Laundry detergents: washday winners.(up front: News / Trends / Advice)

The big word in the world of laundry detergents, as we've found with dish detergents, is "enzymes." Eighteen of the 29 products we tested--regular liquids and powders, products for use in high-efficiency (HE) washers, and new products for cold water--contain enzymes. Those laundry detergents tended to clean best. Other news:

* Tide varieties beat the competition among all the types we tested and at different water temperatures. New Tide Cold Water powder was an excellent cleaner in cold water (in hot, it scored slightly lower). The liquid version was very good at both temperatures. Even regular Tide with Bleach and Tide with Bleach Alternative did very well when used in cold water.

* For less than half the price of Tide, you can buy regular Great Value Ultra Mountain Fresh liquid (WalMart), Kirkland Signature Ultra HE (Costco), or Ultra Plus with Fabric Softener HE (Sears) detergents, all of which were very good. All three are CR Best Buys.

* Most expensive was a "green" product, Seventh Generation, 41 cents per load. It was just good overall.

WHAT CAME OUT IN THE WASH

Under closely controlled conditions, we washed white cloths covered with a nightmarish array of stains: grass, blood, chocolate syrup, black coffee, purple grape juice, spaghetti sauce, mud, and a mixture of dust and synthetic sebum, which mimics ring around the collar. We tested HE detergents in HE machines.

Lab instruments checked on color and brightness; our human experts determined whether the detergents contained optical brighteners, which fluoresce blue-white in ultraviolet light. Although they "make whites whiter," brighteners can make dark clothes look faded, so brightening is not part of the overall score.