A washing apparatus includes a washing bath in which articles to be cleaned are washed. The washing bath contains a detergent of a kind containing a nonion surface active agent and a terpene-based solvent as principal components thereof. The articles to be cleaned are, after having been washed in the washing bath, immersed in a rinsing bath containing a rinsing water. The rinsing bath is provided with a recirculating passage extending from a portion of the rinsing bath back to another portion of the rinsing bath, a precision filter disposed on the recirculating passage and having a micro-porous membrane having an average pore size not smaller than 0.01 .mu.m, but not greater than 0.2 .mu.m, and an adsorbent filter containing a mass of activated carbon for substantially purifying the rinsing water which has been passed through the precision filter. The articles to be cleaned are first washed with the detergent of the specified kind and then rinsed within the rinsing bath. The rinsing water used for the articles is, after having been filtered through the micro-porous membrane, substantially purified by the adsorbent filter containing a mass of activated carbon.