To study the effects of nonionic surfactants polarity on the quality of flotation clean low-rank coal (LRC), three nonionic surfactants of different polarity, n-dodecyl β-D-maltoside (DDM), nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO) and dodecyl ethoxyl ethers (C12EO) were selected and their flotation behaviors were experimentally investigated. By analysing the adsorption behaviors of surfactants and interfacial water on the kaolinite (0 0 1) surface and (0 0 1¯) surface, it could be concluded that the three surfactants could not replace the water molecules adsorbed on kaolinite (0 0 1) surface due to the strong adsorption between the water molecule and the kaolinite (0 0 1) surface. And the ability of the three surfactants to replace the water molecules adsorbed on kaolinite (0 0 1¯) surface is as follow: DDM > NPEO > C12EO, i.e. increasing the polarity of surfactants makes it easier to adsorb on kaolinite surface. In addition, the surfactants adsorption layer on kaolinite (0 0 1¯) surface is more compact with the increase in nonionic surfactant polarity. The results of simulations are in according with the experimental data. The presented study offers directions in surfactant selection and design in LRC cleaning.