A water-soluble surfactant composition includes an aliphatic diol and a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether. A 0.1 wt % aqueous solution of the surfactant composition has a contact angle of at most 60 degrees and a dynamic surface tension at both 1 Hz and 10 Hz of at most 50 mN/m. When used in printing inks and paper coatings, this composition provides excellent wettability, penetrability, foam inhibition and dispersibility, is compatible with environmental concerns, and has no adverse effects on printing and coating equipment.