Since an ancient era, laundry washing has been a part of human life. Until recent days soap was the only good partner at the washing, then after WWII synthetic detergents replaced the position. Laundry detergents have always been drawing public attentions concerning safety matters or environmental compatibility issues because of their nature of necessity chemical product with high volume consumption. At each issue the difficulties have been overcome by the technological innovations. Current main ingredients of the detergents and their development histories are introduced. Further, the requirements for laundry detergents to acquire more sophisticated quality as well as to fit into the coming sustainable society are discussed.

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In the past 20 years, circumstances concerning detergents have greatly changed and enzymes have become an important component of detergents. The percentage of detergents containing enzymes in Western Europe, the United States, and in Japan is 85, 80, and almost 100, respectively. Prior to the introduction of the compact detergent incorporating alkaline cellulase in 1987, the use of enzymes was limited primarily to one class of enzyme, namely proteases. Since then, lipase, amylase and mannanase have also come into use. Today, it is common to include one or more enzymes with protease. Enzymes provide not only effective removal of stains/dirt but also the anti-redeposition effect which benefits the whiteness maintenance of fabrics.
Together with the search for enzymes that offer new benefits, the improvements of current ones are being actively advanced using modern biotechnology. In the past, oxidation stable enzymes using protein engineering and a low-temperature enzyme using directed molecular evolution were created and put in practical use. New enzymes that have fabric care, bleaching and anti-microbial benefits are attracting attention. Future environmentally friendly detergents will contain even more enzymes and more classes of enzymes.

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