In this study, an optimized method was presented for the reverse quartz flotation in iron ore purification where sodium oleate (NaOL) was always selected as the collector due to its accessibility and economic benefits. Three alcohol ethoxylates, octylphenol ethoxylate (OP-10), nonylphenol ethoxylate (NP-10) and fatty alcohol ethoxylates (AEO-9) were introduced to improve the collecting performance of NaOL in the reverse flotation of quartz. It turned out that the addition of alcohol ethoxylates was helpful to increase the recovery of quartz in the flotation with the order of OP-10 > NP-10 > AEO-9. To characterize the adsorption of NaOL on activated quartz in different surfactant systems, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) were employed. Furthermore, the contact angles of the quartz surface that interacted with different surfactant systems were measured to investigate the synergy effect of NaOL and alcohol ethoxylates on the hydrophobicity of quartz. It turned out that alcohol ethoxylates promoted the adsorption of NaOL on the activated quartz, resulting in an increase in the hydrophobicity of quartz also in the order of OP-10 > NP-10 > AEO-9, which well explained the flotation results. Regular Solution Theory (RST) and the dilution effect based on the surface tension analysis were utilized to elucidate the synergy mechanism between NaOL and the alcohol ethoxylate.