The interaction between an associative thickeners in solution and an anionic surfactant has been studied with rheology and surface tension measurements. Both a HEUR thickener and low molecular weight HMHEC thickener interacted strongly with the surfactant. The addition of surfactant leads in both cases to a reinforced transient network at low and moderate levels of surfactant, whereas the structure is destroyed at higher levels. The HMHEC thickener was found more sensitive to high surfactant concentrations than the HEUR one. Surface tension measurements are complementary to the rheology studies and showed hydrophobic interaction between HEUR thickener and surfactant to be dominant over polyethylene oxide - surfactant interaction. Adsorption of thickener to latex was studied with monitoring of isotherms from depletion concentration, electrokinetic measurements and ellipsometry. The HEUR thickener used was found to adsorb more strongly to the latex than the surfactant in contrast to the HMHEC thickener.