A novel process for the extraction of salt from seawater based on the unique solubility properties of nonionic surfactants and the relative phobia of inorganic salts to organic surfactants has been developed. Nonionic surfactant is first added to the seawater to form a homogenous mixture. Then the temperature of the mixture is adjusted to cause it to separate into aqueous salt-rich and relatively salt-free phases. The relatively salt-free phase is then caused to phase separate into a surfactant-rich phase and a relatively surfactant-free and relatively salt-free water phase by further temperature adjustment. Finally, these latter two phases are separated to recover salt-free water.