The right laundry detergent keeps your clothes soft and clean without irritating your skin. Shop our selection of laundry detergents and powders. Soap is made from plant oils and acids, while laundry detergent is synthetic and made from chemicals like ammonium, potassium, and sodium salts.

Context Explanation

Both work to effectively remove dirt and stains from clothing and fabrics. In domestic contexts, the term detergent refers to household cleaning products such as laundry detergent or dish detergent, which are in fact complex mixtures of different compounds, not all of which are by themselves detergents. If you don’t see your favorite detergent here, check our laundry detergent buying guide and ratings for more than 90 products. This hard-working detergent comes at a great value, and like most items from Costco, it's big.

Insight Material

In our recent laundry test, it tied for first place in getting the most stains out of polyester in... Wiping out nearly every type of stain that came its way, Tide Ultra Oxi Powder Laundry Detergent was hands down the best powder detergent we tested. 1-48 of over 60,000 results for "detergent" Results Check each product page for other buying options. Price and other details may vary based on product size and color. Q: Is liquid or powder detergent better for cleaning?

Final Conclusion

A: Both liquid and powder detergents offer excellent cleaning power, but liquid detergent tends to dissolve more easily in cold water, while powder can be more effective for removing certain stains.