The invention concerns an aqueous viscoelastic fracturing fluid for use in the recovery of hydrocarbons. According to the invention, the fluid comprises a cleavable viscoelastic surfactant and a hydrophobically-modified polymer, wherein the cleavable surfactant comprises a head group and a hydrophobic tail of at least 18 carbon atoms connected through a degradable acetal, amide, ether or ester bond and wherein the concentration of the hydrophobically-modified polymer is comprised between its overlap concentration c* and its entanglement concentration ce.