The key difference between anionic cationic and nonionic surfactants is that anionic surfactants contain negatively charged functional groups, and cationic surfactants contain positively charged functional groups, whereas nonionic surfactants have no net electrical charge.
The term surfactant refers to surface-active agents. That means, the surfactants can reduce the surface tension between two substances. For example, two substances can be two liquids, a gas and a liquid or a liquid and a solid. There are three main types of surfactants as anionic, cationic and nonionic surfactants. These three types differ from each other according to the electrical charge of the compound.
