Objective: To compare the application effects of different pre-treatment moisturizing pretreatment schemes on the cleaning of surgical instruments with long-term retention. Methods: From Jan to June 2024, The moisturizing pretreatment records about 200 long-time unprocessed apparatus in the pelvic lymphadenectomy delivered to our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. All of the apparatus were delivered in the nighttime. The operation completion to the central sterile supply department time was longer than 6 h. According to the different pretreatment schemes, the observation group was treated with the ClnMax foam detergent(n=100); the control group was treated with the conventional medical apparatus(n=100). Group contrast results were concluded through the pretreatment time, the moisturizing scores after 6 h of pretreatment, the occult blood residual rates after pretreatment, the relative light unit(RLU) qualified rates of adenosine triphosphate(ATP), the single apparatus cleaning time, single apparatus cleaning qualified rates, work satisfaction and Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey(MBI-GS) scores. Results: Compared with the control group, the observation group had a lower incidence of healthcare-associated infections, shorter operating room pretreatment time, higher moisturizing score at 6 h, lower occult blood residual rate, and higher RLU qualified rate, all with statistically significant differences(all P<0.05). The single-instrument cleaning time in the observation group was shorter than that in the control group, and all dimensions and the total score of MBI-GS of the staff in the central sterile supply department were lower in the observation group, with statistically significant differences(P<0.05). No significant differences were found in the qualified rates of visual inspection, microscopic inspection, protein residue, and RLU between the two groups(all P>0.05). Conclusion: ClnMax foam detergent has demonstrated excellent cleaning and moisturizing effects on surgical instruments with long-term retention in the pelvic lymphadenectomy, which helps reduce the difficulty of subsequent instrument cleaning and enhance work efficiency.