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Schematic illustration of pesticide residues in spinach leaves detected by SERS imaging after detergent washing and verified by HPLC. [Display omitted] • We use SERS imaging to evaluate pesticide removal effect of different detergents. • 5:5 LAS-APG at 0.2 % had the strongest combined effect. • Combined effect of different mixed detergent was revealed by surface tensions. Pesticide residues on vegetables could be removed by commercial detergents to guarantee food safety, but the removal efficiencies of different formulations of detergents need to be further investigated. In this work, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging method due to its good space resolution as well as high sensitivity is used to track the thiram residue, and evaluate the pesticide removing efficiencies by mixtures of several surfactants at different ratios. Sodium linear alkylbenzene sulphonate-alkyl glycoside (LAS-APG) with the ratio at 5:5 and the concentration at 0.2 % show the best removing effect. In addition, HPLC method is employed to validate the results of SERS imaging. Furthermore, LAS-APG mixture could be efficiently washed out from the leaves through simple household cleaning, meaning no secondary contamination. It is perspective that SERS imaging is an effective technique to explore the effect of fruit and vegetable detergents in removing pesticide residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]