•GO/ceramic composite membrane was prepared by facile dip-coating method.•Interfacial adhesion of the membrane was improved by silane-modification.•GO/ceramic composite membrane shows potential for small molecule separation. Graphene oxide (GO) composite membrane was fabricated on a silane-modified ceramic support via dip-coating method. The modification of ceramic support by saline improves the interfacial adhesion with GO membrane layer. Meanwhile, the automatic capillary filtration process of ceramic support enables the preparation simple. SEM, EDS, XRD, FT-IR, AFM, nanoindentor and contact angle measurements were conducted to study the morphologies, physical and chemical properties and surface properties of the GO/ceramic composite membrane. The membrane exhibits good integrity, continuity and strong interfacial adhesion, and the surface of GO/ceramic composite membrane is hydrophilic. Additionally, the pervaporation performance of the GO/ceramic composite membrane for separation water from ethanol/water mixtures was investigated, showing a total flux of 461.86g/(m2h) and a water concentration enhancement from 5wt% to 39.92wt% at 40°C.