A laboratory study was conducted to assess the feasibility of a washing process with nonionic/anionic surfactant for the mobilization of PAH compounds from a field-contaminated soil. Soil washing was combined with surfactant regeneration and detoxification steps to generate innocuous products. Ultrasonication of field-contaminated soil with a 3% (w/v) surfactant suspension for 5 min mobilized appreciable quantities of all polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds. Of the three surfactants, the Brij 98 formulation proved to be slightly more efficient for three successive extractions, mobilizing 88% of the soil PAH burden, whereas companion extractions using fresh reagents each time mobilized 89% of the soil PAH content. Formulating the Brij 98 surfactant in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) increased the recovery of all PAHs as well as the recovery of surfactant (>90%), but soil residues exceeded permissible maxima for five- and six-ringed analytes. On the basis of the cumulative recoveries of PAH compounds in the aqueous fraction, five successive washes were predicted to reduce the residual soil burdens to legislatively permissible levels.