Utilizing renewable energy for desalination applications is becoming more popular due to the rising demand for freshwater and the unsustainable nature of fossil fuels. Membrane-based desalination operations are becoming increasingly popular due to their low energy requirements and compact design. There have been significant efforts made to combine conventional renewable energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, and nuclear) with membrane-based desalination processes, namely, reverse osmosis (RO) and electro dialysis (ED). Recent advances in membrane technology have led to the emergence of intriguing membrane processes such reverse electro dialysis (RED), pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO), and membrane distillation (MD). Integrating MD with PRO or RED improves the efficiency of these processes and provides a clean, sustainable way to generate energy and freshwater. The present research outlines the recent advancements and improvements in the use of renewable energy sources in membrane-based desalination, in particular the new membrane operations that have a demonstrated potential to produce energy from wastewater streams. Exergy analysis of membrane-based desalination process was conducted. Based on the results, it was clear that exergetic efficiency is maximum up to 0.5% for MD system and 0.72% for RO systems. Integration of MD with PRO system increases exergetic efficiency up to 37.7% and RED system up to 25.7%.