A comparative study of anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactants on photogalvanic effect was studied in a photogalvanic cell containing dioctyl sulfosuccinate (DSS), cetyltrimethylarnmonium bromide (CTAB), and TritonX-100 as surfactants, rhodarnine 6G as photosensitizer. and oxalic acid as reductant. Observed values of photopotential, photocurrent, fill factor, conversion efficiency, and storage capacity for DSS-rhodamine 6G-oxalic acid system was, respectively, 880.0mV, 200 mu A, 0.41, 0.86%, and 131.0min, for CTAB-rhodamine 6G-oxalic acid system, 414.0 mV, 90.0 mu A, 0.45, 0.24%, and 68.0 min, and for TritonX-100-rhodamine 6G-oxalic acid system, 672.0mV, 165.0 mu A, 0.38, 0.55%, and 96.0min. The effects of different parameters on electrical output of the cell were observed and a tentative mechanism has also been proposed for the generation of photocurrent in photogalvanic cell. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.