Abstract: Contaminated aqueous systems can be cleaned using an ultra-filtration process that allows for the recovery of high yields of the surfactant employed therein for recycle and reuse. The system employs a specific class of sugar-derived nonionic surfactants which remain polar and solvated at the higher operating temperatures of the system. Specifically, these are sugar-derived nonionic surfactants more definitively known as the alkyl polyglycosides and the alkyl glucomides. The surfactant/contaminant-containing aqueous system is ultra-filtered resulting in the surfactant passing through with the permeate at extremely high yields for recovery and reuse.