The invention describes detergents and cleaners comprising an effective proportion of one or more surfactants of the formula I ##STR00001## in which a is one of the numbers 11, 12, or 13, R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are different and are each hydrogen or alkyl radicals R.sup.3 is hydrogen, or a sulfato or phosphate radical, x and y are each a number from 0 to 200, and further known auxiliaries and additives customary in detergents and cleaners and optionally in addition further surfactants.