This work aims to design ultra-slippery polyimide (PI) photothermal responsive membrane surface modified by the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and to achieve directional droplet transport under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation stimuli. The surface morphology, wettability and photothermal property of the sample characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), optical fiber goniometer and infrared thermal imager respectively, in combination of the MWCNT-modified ultra-slippery PI photothermal responsive membrane surface, fabricated through the combined electrostatic spinning technique and spray method, were used to investigate the influence of droplet volume and lubricant viscosity on the directional droplet transport and to study the mechanism of directional droplet transport under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation stimuli. The results indicated that the surface hydrophobicity of PI membrane was improved after being modified by MWCNT and the droplet static contact angle has increased from 115° to 160°. When the MWCNT modified slippery photothermal responsive PI membrane surface was exposed 90 s under NIR, the maximum surface temperature rising rate reached 42.6 ℃/s and the maximum surface temperature was up to 123.6 ℃. After the irradiation of NIR, the local temperature of MWCNT-modified ultra-slippery PI photothermal responsive surface rised, and wetting gradient force was formed on its surface, which drived droplets to transport directionally. Directional droplet transport was influenced by wetting gradient force and viscous resistance. With the same lubricant viscosity on the MWCNT-modified ultra-slippery PI photothermal responsive surface, the velocity of droplet transport increased with the decreasing of droplet volume and hydrodynamic resistance. For a water droplet (5 mL) on the MWCNT-modified ultra-slippery PI photothermal responsive membrane surface (lubricant viscosity:0.65 mm2/s), the highest droplet velocity was 1.64 mm/s. With the same droplet volume, the wettability gradient force decreased with the increasing of lubricant viscosity. For a water droplet (5 mL) on the MWCNT-modified ultra-slippery PI photothermal responsive membrane surface (lubricant viscosity:100 mm2/s), the smallest wettability gradient force was 6.39×10?6 N. The experimental results shows that the MWCNT-modified ultra-slippery PI photothermal responsive membrane surface has good photothermal property and single-droplet and multiple-droplet both can be precisely manipulated on the MWCNT-modified ultra-slippery PI photothermal responsive membrane surface under NIR stimuli.