1 UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6001, Australia.
2 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
3 Department of Bldg, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal H3G 1M8, Canada.
4 Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos, s/n, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.
5 Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science & Technology, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB T3E6K6, Canada.
6 Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.

This review aims to provide an overview of the sources and reactions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and surfactants in soil and sediments, the surfactant-enhanced solubilisation of POPs, and the unintended consequences of surfactant-induced remediation of soil and sediments contaminated with POPs. POPs include chemical compounds that are recalcitrant to natural degradation through photolytic, chemical, and biological processes in the environment. POPs are potentially toxic compounds mainly used in pesticides, solvents, pharmaceuticals, or industrial applications and pose a significant and persistent risk to the ecosystem and human health. Surfactants can serve as detergents, wetting and foaming compounds, emulsifiers, or dispersants, and have been used extensively to promote the solubilization of POPs and their subsequent removal from environmental matrices, including solid wastes, soil, and sediments. However, improper use of surfactants for remediation of POPs may lead to unintended consequences that include toxicity of surfactants to soil microorganisms and plants, and leaching of POPs, thereby resulting in groundwater contamination.