Surfactant-mediated wetting and spreading are ubiquitous. Understanding of these phenomena in-depth allows precise tailoring of wetting performance which can contribute to global challenges in the food supply chain, healthcare, ecology and in industrial processes. The first part of this review shows how surfactants can be used to improve the efficacy of fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture, enhanced oil recovery, treatment of lung diseases and in extinguishing fires involving flammable liquids. The second part provides analysis of recent studies on wetting and spreading over solid substrates. It includes discussion on the effect of surfactants on the outcome of the impact of liquid drops, the wetting state after impact, autophobic effect and spreading kinetics for both partial and complete wetting, including superspreading. Perspectives of future development in the area of surfactant-assisted wetting and spreading on solid substrates are outlined.

表面活性剂介导的润湿和扩散无处不在。深入了解这些现象可以精确地调整润湿性能，从而对食品供应链，医疗保健，生态和工业过程中的全球挑战做出贡献。这篇综述的第一部分说明了如何在农业中使用表面活性剂来提高肥料和农药的功效，提高采油率，治疗肺部疾病以及扑灭涉及易燃液体的火灾。第二部分提供了有关在固态基材上润湿和扩散的最新研究的分析。它讨论了表面活性剂对液滴冲击结果的影响，冲击后的润湿状态，自疏水效应以及部分和完全润湿（包括超铺展）的铺展动力学。