Natural surfactants are surface-active substances derived from plants, animals, or microbial metabolic products. Their molecular structure contains both hydrophilic groups and hydrophobic chains, with main categories including plant saponins (e.g., tea saponin), phospholipids (e.g., lecithin), glycolipids (e.g., rhamnolipids), and protein derivatives. These surfactants demonstrate excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and environmental friendliness, typically exhibiting low toxicity and skin irritation. They function by reducing surface tension to achieve emulsification, dispersion, solubilization, and foaming effects, finding applications in food processing, cosmetics, pharmaceutical formulations, and environmental remediation. Particularly valued in green formulations and sustainable product development, they nevertheless face challenges including higher production costs, potentially inferior foam stability and detergency compared to synthetic alternatives, and limitations in raw material availability due to natural constraints.