Detergents and liquid cleaners free of inorganic builders

Claim 1

A homogeneous aqueous liquid laundering and cleaning detergent composition, essentially free from inorganic builder salt consisting essentially of: (a) from about 20 to about 40 wt. % of a mixture of nonionic surfactants of the formula: RO--[CH.sub.2 --CH(CH.sub.3)--O].sub.m --(CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 --O).sub.n --H (I) wherein R is a C 10 -C 20 aliphatic hydrocarbon group which is linear or methylated in the 2-position and can be saturated or unsaturated, or R represents a mixture of such groups; m is a number from 1 to 5; n is a number from 3 to 20; n>m; and wherein the mixture of nonionic surfactants is composed of the following components: (i) from about 5 to about 9 parts by weight of at least one compound of the above Formula I wherein n=3 to 9, (ii) from about 1 to about 5 parts by weight of at least one compound of the above Formula I wherein n=10 to 20, and (iii) from 0 to about 6 parts by weight of a compound of the above Formula I wherein m=1 to 3 and n=9 to 11; (b) from about 2 to about 25 wt. % based on fatty acid of at least one sodium, potassium monoalkanolamine, dialkanolamine or trialkanolamine soap of a C 10 -C 20 saturated or monounsaturated fatty acid; (c) from about 0.001 to about 2 wt. % of at least one proteolytic enzyme; and (d) from about 5 to about 25 wt. % of at least one monohydroxy or polyhydroxy alcohol having 2 to 4 carbon atoms; wherein (a) and (b) taken together constitute from about 30 to about 50 wt. % of the detergent composition, and wherein a 1% aqueous solution of the detergent composition has a pH value in the range of from about 6.5 to about 9.