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There is a growing demand for hydrolyzable surfactants, i.e., surfactants that break down ina controlled way by changing the pH. Environmental concern is the main driving force behind currentinterest in these surfactants, but they are also of interest in applications where surfactants are neededin one stage but later undesirable at another stage of a process. This chapter summarizes the fieldof hydrolyzable surfactants with an emphasis on their more recent development. Surfactants that break downeither on the acid or on the alkaline side are described. It is shown that the susceptibility to hydrolysisfor many surfactants depends on whether or not the surfactant is in the form of micelles or as free unimersin solution. It is shown that whereas nonionic ester surfactants are more stable above the CMC (micellarretardation), cationic ester surfactants break down more readily when aggregated than when present as …