Solid substrate fermentation (SSF) is a process where the substrate is a moist solid, which is insoluble in water but not suspended in water. In this study SSF of Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 21556) was used to produce an enzyme of commercial importance, alpha-amylase, using as a substrate potato peel. To enhance the production of this enzyme, two nonionic synthetic surfactants were used, Tween 80 and Tween 20, one anionic surfactant, SDS at concentrations of 0.05% and 0.10% (v/w) and a biosurfactant produced by Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 21332), known as surfactin, at concentrations of 0.003%, 0.007%, 0.013% and 0.03% (w/w). The results have shown that surfactants significantly increase the production of alpha-amylase. Tween 80 at 0.10% and surfactin at 0.013% provided the highest enzyme activity when compared with the control.