Cerium oxide (CeO) nanoparticles (NPs) have indicated great potentials as nanofiller owing to its high surface area, antioxidant properties and low cost. In this paper, thin film nanocomposite (TFN) RO membranes were proposed to be prepared through incorporation of hydrophilic CeO NPs in polyamide (PA) selective layers via interfacial polymerization (IP). EDX, XPS, SEM, AFM, contact angle and zeta potential were used to examine the property and morphology of the prepared membranes. CeO NPs were successfully embedded in the PA network, which endowed the TFN membranes with rougher surfaces and thinner PA layers. The TFN membranes were fabricated with different CeO NPs contents (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 400 mg/L). With increasing CeO NPs loading amount, the hydrophilicity improved from 85.4° to 65.7° and the surface charge declined from -19.4 to -34.2 mV. These characteristics contributed to a 50% enhancement in water flux of TFN-CeO100 membrane (containing 100 mg/L of CeO NPs) without compromise the NaCl rejection (98%). Moreover, CeO embedded membrane exhibited an enhanced fouling resistance property through preventing the adhesion of hydrophobic foultants. This study demonstrated the desirable applicability of CeO NPs in synthesizing novel TFN membranes for desalination application.