Enzymes, bleaching systems and polymers play a key role in removing unwanted soils and stains from the substrate in washing processes. Enzymes such as protease, amylase, lipase, cellulase and oxygenase are incorporated in detergent formulations to remove protein stains, starchy stains, lipid stains, body soils and stains containing guar gum. Bleaching agents maintain acceptable bleaching activity at room temperature only when bleach activators or bleach catalysts are present. Most patented bleach activators are not cost-effective and thus only two of them, tetraacetylethylenedamine (TAED) and sodium nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate (SNOBS) are commercialized. A bleach catalyst based on manganese complexes, consisting of meso-5,5,7,12,12,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetra-decane and recenic-5,5,7,12,12,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane ligands, can potentially be employed for low-temperature bleaching. Besides used as detergency builders, polymers can be incorporated in detergent formulations as a soil release agent or a dye-transfer inhibitor. The state-of-the-art development of above components is reviewed in this paper. It is evident from our discussion that modern detergents will routinely be a combination of surfactants, builders, enzymes, bleaching systems and polymers, which not only provide the best detergency performance and cost effectiveness, but also leave lesser chemical load upon the environment.