Consumers are paying more attention than ever to what goes into the products they use around their homes. Laundry detergent, surface cleaners, hand soap, and dishwasher detergent are increasingly being evaluated not only on how well they clean, but also on what ingredients they contain and why those ingredients are there.
Reliable Dish Detergent uses a relatively straightforward collection of cleaning agents, builders, enzymes, surfactants, and water-conditioning ingredients:
Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Citrate, Sodium DDBS 90%, Enzyme, Sodium Sulfate, Alcohol Ethoxylate, Sodium CMC, EDTA (Diss 200-s), and Sodium Gluconate.
While some of those names sound highly technical, most serve recognizable functions within detergent chemistry.
Why Dishwasher Detergent Requires More Than Just “Soap”
Dishwashers create a surprisingly difficult cleaning environment.
A detergent may need to remove grease, starches, proteins, dried food and mineral deposits while working in different water conditions and at different temperatures.
A 2025 scientific review of detergents and domestic dishwashing explains that detergent chemistry plays an important role in cleaning and hygiene performance. Modern formulations can combine surfactants, enzymes, builders, complexing agents and other ingredients that attack different types of soils.
That's why looking at the function of each ingredient can be more informative than simply judging a detergent by whether its ingredient names sound "natural."
Sodium Carbonate: Creating the Right Cleaning Environment
Sodium carbonate — commonly known as washing soda — is an alkaline compound frequently used in cleaning products.
In dishwasher detergents, alkalinity helps loosen and remove certain food soils and grease.
The American Cleaning Institute's explanation of dishwasher detergent chemistry specifically identifies sodium carbonate as an additional alkali that can help deal with greasy food soils.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also included sodium carbonate among qualifying mineral ingredients under certain Safer Choice criteria for processing aids and additives.
Importantly, the presence of an ingredient on such a list does not mean that an entire detergent automatically qualifies for EPA Safer Choice certification.
Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate is better known as baking soda.
Within cleaning formulations, it can contribute alkalinity and buffering while helping create conditions conducive to removing soils.
It is considerably more familiar to consumers than many detergent ingredients, but its inclusion shouldn't distract from the broader point: dishwasher performance depends on the interaction between numerous ingredients.
Sodium Citrate: Helping With Hard Water
Sodium citrate is particularly interesting because water hardness can have a major impact on dishwasher performance.
Calcium and magnesium ions in hard water can contribute to mineral deposits and interfere with cleaning chemistry. Builders and complexing agents help control these minerals.
Research published in the Journal of Cleaner Production discusses the importance of controlling water hardness in automatic dishwashing and describes citric-acid-based chemistry among alternatives used for this purpose.
Sodium citrate therefore isn't simply "filler." It can play an important functional role in the detergent system.
Sodium DDBS 90%: The Surfactant Workhorse
Sodium DDBS generally refers to a sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate surfactant.
Surfactants are some of the most important ingredients in cleaning chemistry because they help water interact with oily and greasy soils.
Rather than grease simply remaining attached to a surface, surfactants help loosen and disperse oily material so it can be carried away during washing.
This is one reason surfactant selection can significantly influence cleaning performance.
Alcohol Ethoxylate: Another Grease-Fighting Surfactant
Alcohol ethoxylates are nonionic surfactants commonly used in cleaning formulations.
According to the American Cleaning Institute, surfactants lower water's surface tension, improve wetting and help remove and emulsify fatty soils.
Low-foaming behavior is especially important in automatic dishwashing because excessive foam can interfere with dishwasher operation.
The combination of different surfactant types can allow a detergent to address different kinds of soils rather than relying on a single cleaning mechanism.
Enzymes: Breaking Food Residue Into Smaller Pieces
Enzymes are arguably one of the most scientifically interesting components of modern detergents.
Different enzymes target different types of food residue. Proteases can help break down proteins, amylases target starches and lipases target fats.
A peer-reviewed review published in the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents explains how enzymes have contributed to modern detergent performance, including automatic dishwashing applications.
Another study evaluating protease, amylase and lipase in automatic dishwasher detergent found that enzyme-containing formulations could be engineered to improve soil removal, including under varying water conditions.
One limitation with the Reliable ingredient list, however, is that it simply says “Enzyme.”
Knowing the specific enzyme or enzymes used — such as protease, amylase or lipase — would provide consumers with considerably more information about the formulation.
Sodium CMC: Keeping Removed Soil From Coming Back
Sodium CMC, or sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, is a polymer used in cleaning formulations.
Ingredients in this category can help manage soils after they have been loosened from a surface. That's important because removing food from a dish is only half of the job — the detergent system also needs to help prevent loosened material from redepositing elsewhere during the wash.
This illustrates why seemingly secondary ingredients can still contribute to overall cleaning performance.
EDTA: A Powerful Chelating Agent With an Environmental Trade-Off
EDTA is a chelating agent.
Chelating agents bind metal ions such as calcium and magnesium, which can improve detergent performance in hard water and reduce interference from minerals.
Functionally, EDTA makes sense in a detergent formulation.
However, this is one ingredient that deserves additional discussion if the product is being evaluated from an environmental perspective.
EDTA is known for being relatively persistent under some environmental conditions, which is one reason modern detergent development has investigated alternative chelating and complexing systems.
So while EDTA can be highly useful from a performance standpoint, consumers looking specifically for the most environmentally optimized detergent formulas may want to consider the type and quantity of chelating agents being used.
Sodium Gluconate: Additional Mineral Control
Sodium gluconate can also act as a chelating or sequestering agent.
Its role complements other water-conditioning ingredients by helping interact with metal ions that might otherwise interfere with cleaning or contribute to deposits.
The presence of sodium citrate, EDTA and sodium gluconate suggests that managing mineral ions and water conditions is an important part of this particular formulation.
Sodium Sulfate
Sodium sulfate commonly serves as a processing aid, carrier or formulation component in powdered detergents.
Unlike enzymes and surfactants, its primary purpose isn't necessarily to attack grease or food directly. Instead, it can help manufacturers produce a stable and usable detergent formulation.
The EPA's Safer Choice criteria also identify sodium sulfate among qualifying mineral ingredients under its applicable processing-aid and additive criteria.
So, Is Reliable Dish Detergent a Good Formula?
From a detergent-chemistry perspective, the ingredient list follows a logical approach.
There are alkaline cleaning agents such as sodium carbonate, surfactants including DDBS and alcohol ethoxylate, enzymes for food residues, and several ingredients that help manage minerals and hard water.
That combination is consistent with the basic principles behind modern detergent formulation.
Research into automatic dishwashing repeatedly shows why this multi-ingredient approach matters: cleaning performance results from the interaction among detergent chemistry, water hardness, temperature, cycle length and the type of food soil being removed.
There are still questions consumers may reasonably want answered.
The ingredient list does not specify which enzyme is being used, nor does the list alone tell us the concentration of every ingredient, the finished product's pH, aquatic-toxicity profile, biodegradability, or whether the complete formulation meets an independent environmental certification.
Those details matter if the goal is to determine whether a product is not only effective, but also preferable from a health or environmental perspective.
The Bottom Line
Reliable Dish Detergent isn't simply relying on one powerful chemical to clean dishes.
Its formulation appears to use several complementary mechanisms:
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Sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate help establish an alkaline cleaning environment.
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DDBS and alcohol ethoxylate provide surfactant action against grease and soils.
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Enzymes can break down food residues.
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Sodium citrate, EDTA and sodium gluconate help manage minerals and hard water.
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Sodium CMC contributes to soil management and formulation performance.
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Sodium sulfate serves a supporting formulation role.
That basic strategy is well established in detergent science.
But an ingredient list by itself shouldn't be used to declare a detergent completely “safe,” “non-toxic,” or environmentally superior. Concentrations, formulation, exposure, biodegradability and independent certification all provide additional context.