Surfactants are main ingredients in coating additives, polymeric dispersions and coating formulations. Surfactants reduce the interfacial tension of liquids and solids and provide to coatings various functions such as pigment wetting, leveling and defoaming. The group of surfactants is very diverse and comprises products of various polarity, solubility and molecular sizes. Specific properties of main classes of surfactants are explained and specific features for the use in coating formulations are being demonstrated...