Display omitted •Surfactant-assisted synthesis is a promising method for photocatalyst synthesis.•Surfactant would efficiently enhance the photocatalytic activity of photocatalysts.•Surfactant can regulate the morphology and structure of photocatalysts.•Influencing factors and recent advances are highlighted. The presence of large amounts of contaminants in the environment would result in ecological and health hazards. The photocatalytic technologies have been developed to use sunlight to remove contaminants in recent years. Researchers are primarily focused on developing high-performance photocatalysts. This review discusses the effects of surfactant on the structural morphology, physicochemical properties and contaminant removal performance of photocatalysts. The mechanism and synthesis method of surfactant-assisted photocatalysts are reviewed. Meanwhile, the effects of surfactant type, surfactant concentration, solution pH, synthesis method and calcination temperature on the photocatalysts are also discussed in detail. In addition, we summarized the recent advances and the application of surfactant-assisted photocatalysts in the environmental remediation. Finally, the future researches on surfactant-assisted photocatalysts are also proposed. This review provides new insights into the use of surfactants to prepare photocatalysts with well-defined shape and excellent performance to enhance photocatalytic efficiency for removing pollutants.