A process for making solid sugar surfactants involving: (a) providing a glycose component; (b) acetalizing the glycose component with a fatty alcohol to form a technical mixture containing excess fatty alcohol and alkyl and/or alkenyl oligoglycoside; and (c) contacting the technical mixture with an extractant to form a solid phase containing the extractant, a predominant part of alkyl and/or alkenyl oligoglycoside and a small amount of fatty alcohol, and a liquid phase containing a predominant part of the fatty alcohol.