The realization of silicon-based light sources has been the subject of a major research and development effort worldwide. Such sources may help make integrated photonic and electronic circuitry more cost-effective, with higher performance and greater energy efficiency. The hybrid approach, in which silicon is integrated with a III–V gain medium, is an attractive route in the development of silicon lasers because of its potential for high efficiency. Hybrid lasers with good performance have been reported that are fabricated by direct growth or direct wafer-bonding of the gain medium to silicon. Here, we report a membrane reflector surface-emitting laser on silicon that is based on multilayer semiconductor nanomembrane stacking and a stamp-assisted transfer-printing process. The optically pumped laser consists of a transferred III–V InGaAsP quantum-well heterostructure as the gain medium, which is sandwiched between two thin, single-layer silicon photonic-crystal Fano resonance membrane reflectors. We also demonstrate high-finesse single- or multiwavelength vertical laser cavities.