SummaryCertain forms of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose have been shown to be highly effective as synthetic detergent promoters. Formulations containing a sodium alkyl aryl sulfonate type of synthetic detergent, alkaline salts and a type of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose developed for high detergency promoting properties surpass high quality fatty acid soaps in both carbon soil removal and whiteness retention on cottons.Methods having a relatively high order of precision for the evaluation of detergency have been presented in detail. By these methods two fundamental characteristics of detergency—as applied to the laundering of cotton fabrics may be independently measured.