Polymer/surfactant systems can be roughly classified into three categories such as neutral/ionic

charged/ionic

and unspecified/nonionic ones

in terms of the respective surface charge of the two partners. On this ground

the interactions between the polymer and surfactant in aqueous phase are reviewed in this article. It is found that

in most cases

polymers can interact with surfactants in aqueous media by forming complexes. The driving forces binding polymers and surfactants into complexes are mainly due to the hydrophobic bonding

electrostatic attraction as well as hydrogen bonding

individually or collaboratively

depending on the physicochemical properties of the reactants

such as charge attributes and lengths of the hydrophobic chains. In addition

the formation mechanism and structure of the resultant complexes are also influenced more or less by pH

temperature

and ionic strength.