Biological enzyme is a biocatalyst, which is produced or extracted from biological organisms. Catalyst is a substance with the ability to accelerate chemical reaction, and it does not change itself in chemical reaction. Generally speaking, catalysts are some special substances with catalytic effect. As a member of the catalyst family, enzymes have special properties. Each biological enzyme can only selectively catalyze some chemical reactions. Biological enzyme is equivalent to a key to open complex compounds, and its importance lies in its unique structure or multi-dimensional shape matching with a certain part of the population. Once these two parts are combined, the specific chemical bond in the group molecule changes as if the lock were opened. When the reaction is finished, the released enzyme reacts with the next group repeatedly, and then repeats it continuously. Many chemical reactions are very slow at room temperature, and the whole process is difficult to be detected.

After more than a century of research by scientists, it is generally believed that there are more than 3,000 known enzymes. At present, biological enzymes are widely used in textiles, such as fiber modification, silk degumming, degumming of raw hemp (ramie, flax and kenaf), desizing, scouring, finishing and washing after dyeing and finishing, textile printing and dyeing wastewater treatment, garment processing and so on. Biological enzyme technology has unique advantages in improving dyeing and finishing process, saving energy, reducing environmental pollution, improving product quality, increasing added value and developing new raw materials and products. At present, cellulase, protease, amylase, pectinase, lipase, peroxidase, laccase and glucose oxidase are widely used in textile processing.

Recently, people are increasingly interested in using enzymes in cosmetics, not only from the technical point of view, but also from the market prospects and consumers' awareness of these seemingly effective raw materials. Enzymes have been used in laundry detergents for more than 20 years and have long been associated with providing and improving strong detergency. According to some speculations, their positive reaction in the market may be interpreted as cosmetics with enhanced performance to meet the needs of the aging population and the pursuit of youth. The process of natural skin exfoliation is controlled by enzymatic reaction, and specific enzymes dissolve and release desmosomes of dead epidermal cells. These enzymes are produced by dead keratinocytes. Their active sites devour sulfhydryl groups, and the way of clearing peptide bonds is almost the same as that of thioglycolic acid and thioalanine (plus derivatives) in perming. Using these types of enzymes and their cofactors helps to clean the skin surface, which is an opportunity for new products to subsidize the skin appearance (accelerate cell renewal).