Salah made 11 appearances for the Egypt U-20 team and 11 for the Egypt U-23 team, representing Egypt in both 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2012 Summer Olympics, scoring a penalty against Argentina in the round of sixteen of the former tournament, with Egypt losing the match 1–2.
Salah was selected for the youth squad to play at the 2012 Summer Olympics scoring in all three of the team’s group games. On 3 September 2011, Salah made his debut for the Egypt national football team in the 2–1 away defeat by Sierra Leone.He scored his first goal for Egypt’s first team in the 3–0 win against Niger a month later, on 8 October, in qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.