Aim: In patients having elective surgery, the purpose of this study is to conduct a clinical assessment of preoperative skin preparation using aqueous povidone-iodine alone and in combination with alcoholic chlorhexidine. Material and methods: Patients who were undergoing emergency surgery, patients who were immunocompromised and patients who were taking long-term steroids, as well as patients who had septicemia and had a focus of infection somewhere on the body that manifested clinically with fever and increased total and differential counts, were not allowed to participate in the study. The patients were all split up into two groups with the same number of people. Results: The length of time that operations lasted ranged from fifty minutes to three hours and fifteen minutes; however, given that all of the procedures were clean and elective, the length of time that surgeries lasted had no impact on the number of patients that had positive culture swabs. There were seven patients in group one who had a positive culture, while there was only one patient in group two who had a positive culture. This difference is statistically significant. Seven patients in group 1 and one patient in group 2 had postoperative wound infections after their surgeries, respectively. It should be pointed out that only four of the seven patients with growth in group-1 had post-operative wound infections, while the other three were acquired on the ward. Likewise, the only illness that group 2 has is one that was acquired in the ward. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that povidone-iodine in combination with alcoholic chlorhexidine is more effective in pre-operative skin preparation than povidone-iodine used alone. As a result, this combination should be recommended as the antiseptic of choice for use in skin preparation prior to elective clean surgery. It is appropriate to follow this regimen in contaminated and emergency operations given that it was shown to be superior in reducing incision site colonization and postoperative wound infection.