How does detergent get clothes cleaner than plain water?
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Think of how we wash our hands even without antibacterial soap. Soap in general acts as a lubrication to remove dirt and bacteria. Detergent is kind of the same way. As for stuff like oxyclean; maybe someone else can explain how stains are removed
Detergent is mostly soap. Soap binds to water on one end of its molecules and to oil on the other, which allows it to remove oils from fabric and wash them away.
Most detergent also has other chemicals that bind to and react with other dirt related materials but not fabrics and commercial dyes.
By comparison, water just rubs against stuff and abrades the fabric a bit, forcing some of the outermost dirt to loosen and rinse away.
Same goes for washing your hands vs rinsing them.
So really good detergent has enzymes in it. These enzymes break down all the stuff left on your clothes from your body, oils, skin cells, mucus and what ever else we leave on our clothing. Although water would help clean dirt off your clothes, it isn’t strong enough to break down the human by products. That’s what your detergent does. Additionally it should also kill bacteria.
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