The main component of textile detergent is a surfactant. The surfactant is a kind of organic compounds that contain both hydrophilic and lipophilic group in the molecular structure. Generally,
surfactants are divided into two categories- ionic surfactants and non-ionic surfactants on the basis of whether the surfactant can break down into ions in the aqueous solution. The ionic
surfactants can be divided into cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants, and zwitterionic surfactants.
The practice has proved that when washing the fabric only the anionic surfactants and non-ionic surfactants can play a positive and effective role in the fabric decontamination, therefore, these
two surfactants have become the main material of textile detergents.