Preparation of alkylpolyglycosides

A method of producing an alkylpolyglycoside composition having enhanced surfactant properties in which the alkyl group contains from about 8 to about 20 carbon atoms comprising

• (a) providing a reaction mixture of alkyl monoglycoside and alkyl polyglycoside having an essentially Flory distribution resulting from the reaction of an alkyl alcohol and a saccharide in the presence of an acid catalyst;
• and
• (b) molecular distilling the monoglycoside from the polyglycoside under conditions to provide a non-Flory distribution alkylpolyglycoside composition containing polyglycosides having DPs of 2 and higher originally present in acid reaction mixture in progressively decreasing amounts in which the amount by weight of polyglycoside having a DP of 2, or mixtures thereof with the polyglycoside having a DP of 3, predominate in the composition and having an HLB in the range of about 10 to about 16 and an average DP of at least about 1.8 and at least 0.2 units higher than the average DP of the reaction mixture before separation of the alkyl monoglycoside.