<p>Forward osmosis (FO) membranes are faced with the issue of dilution of the draw solution (DS) which gives rise to internal concentration polarization (ICP) that results in the reduction of the osmotic pressure difference across the active layer of the membrane, leading to low water flux. Improving the hydrophilicity of the substrate of the FO thin film composite membranes has been proven as a feasible strategy to address this issue and enhance the desalination performance of the FO membranes. In this work, a thin film nanocomposite membrane incorporated with hybrid of palygorskite/chitin (PAL-CH) has been successfully produced. The embedding of PAL-CH amplified the FO membrane’s hydrophilicity resulting in the formation of hydration layer at membrane interface, as a result aiding the transporting of water across the membrane. The PAL-CH-based TFN membrane was subjected to FO performance tests. PAL-CH incorporated membrane showed good FO performance having Jv at 11.68 Lm⁻²&#xa0;h⁻¹ (in active layer facing FS mode) and 34.39 Lm⁻²&#xa0;h⁻¹ (in active layer facing DS mode) while maintaining small structure parameter (S) and reverse solute flux (Js) value. Besides, the modified membrane exhibited less severe membrane fouling and high pure water flux recovery which is an indication of a good quality FO membrane. The PAL-CH membrane was able to recover 98% of initial Jv after in contact with foulant 30-min repeated washing. Inserting PAL-CH into the substrates amplified separation features of the membrane in terms of S parameter, rejection and water flux.</p>