Abstract: Based on the experimental system of membrane cleaning using cavitation bubble, in this paper, a high-speed camera is adopted to carry out a visualization study on the collapsing process of cavitation bubbles near the elastic membrane. The effects of dimensionless number L* between the cavitation bubble and the elastic membrane（varying between 0.44 and 0.94）and the thickness of elastic membrane on the cavitation bubble dynamics and membrane cleaning mechanism are revealed. Through investigations of the positions of the bubble wall and the deformation of the elastic membrane under different conditions, the following three findings are obtained in this paper.（1） Within certain ranges, the dimensionless number L* could significantly affect the collapsing process of the cavitation bubble and the associated membrane deformation.（2） For conditions with small L*, the elastic membrane could be possibly damaged by the bubble collapse, depending on the thickness of the membrane.（3） For pollutant with small particles, the dynamic behavior of cavitation bubble is hardly affected by the surface pollutants of the elastic membrane.