Surfactants and builders are the two most important ingredients in laundry, household and personal-care cleaning products. They play a key role in washing processes. The development of various surfactants (e.g., anionic, nonionic, cationic, zwitterionic, and silicone surfactants) and builders (inorganic, organic and polymeric builders) used in the detergent compositions are reviewed and their detergency performance and biodegradability are discussed. In the future, the development of the surfactants and builders used in detergent compositions should be based on economic and environmental considerations. The use of the eco-friendly surfactants and builders derived from inexpensive renewable resources (e.g., alkyl polyglucosides and bio-based polyesters) in detergent compositions is the developing trends in detergent industry.