How to Get Mildew Smell Out of Towels for Good

The fastest way to get mildew smell out of towels is to wash them on the hottest setting they can handle with 1 cup of white vinegar instead of detergent, then run a second hot cycle with ½ cup of baking soda in place of detergent.

You pull a towel off the rack, bring it to your face, and there it is: that sour, musty smell that no amount of fabric softener seems to fix. It's not actually dirt causing that smell. It's bacteria, thriving in the damp fibres every time a towel doesn't fully dry between uses. The good news is that fixing it takes two loads of laundry, not a new set of towels.

Why do towels smell musty even after washing?

Towels smell musty even after washing because bacteria and mould have colonized the fibres, and regular detergent alone doesn't kill them. It just masks the smell temporarily with fragrance. Three things usually feed the problem at once: towels sitting damp too long before drying, detergent residue building up in the fibres, and a washing machine drum that's holding onto its own bacteria and passing it back onto every load.

That's why the smell often comes right back within a day or two of a normal wash: you're cleaning the towel, but not addressing the bacteria actually causing the odour.

How do you get mildew smell out of towels?

Wash towels in two separate hot cycles, one with white vinegar and one with baking soda, because vinegar kills the odour-causing bacteria while baking soda neutralizes what's left behind. Running both together in one cycle cancels out their effectiveness, since vinegar is acidic and baking soda is alkaline.

1. Load towels into the washer as usual, skipping detergent for this cycle.

2. Pour 1 cup of white vinegar directly into the drum (not the detergent dispenser) and run a full cycle on the hottest water setting your towels can handle.

3. Without adding detergent, add ½ cup of baking soda to the drum and run a second hot cycle.

4. Tumble dry completely on low heat. Don't pull towels out even slightly damp, since that's how the smell started in the first place.

For a stubborn, long-standing smell, soak the towels in a vinegar-and-water solution for 30 minutes before starting the vinegar wash cycle. It gives the acid more contact time with bacteria buried deep in the fibres.

Does fabric softener make towel smell worse?

Yes, fabric softener coats towel fibres with a waxy residue that traps moisture and reduces absorbency, giving bacteria more to hold onto instead of less. Skip fabric softener on towels entirely: a half cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle softens fibres naturally without leaving a coating behind. If you're rethinking other habits around wash day, our guide to eco-friendly laundry covers swaps that cut water and energy use too.

How often should you wash towels to prevent mildew smell?

Wash bath towels every 3–4 uses, or every 2–3 uses in a humid climate or a bathroom with poor ventilation, to keep bacteria from building up before it becomes a smell you notice. Beyond wash frequency, three habits matter more than any product:

• Hang towels fully spread out on a bar or hook, not balled up on a hook or left in a damp pile. Airflow is what actually dries a towel, not time.

• Use only the detergent amount the label recommends. Excess detergent doesn't rinse out fully and becomes exactly the residue bacteria feed on.

• Store clean towels somewhere air can circulate: open shelving or a rack, not a sealed cabinet or hamper.

A towel that dries within 2–3 hours gives bacteria far less time to multiply than one that stays damp for 6–8 hours, so a well-ventilated towel bar does more for odour prevention than any laundry additive.

Could the washing machine itself be the source of the smell?

Yes, a washing machine drum with its own detergent buildup and bacteria will reintroduce musty smell to every load, no matter how clean the towels were before washing. Run an empty hot cycle with 2 cups of white vinegar once a month to keep the drum itself from becoming the problem. If towels keep smelling musty right after washing despite following the steps above, this is usually the missing piece.

Does this method work on coloured or dark towels?

Yes, both white vinegar and baking soda are safe on coloured and dark towels since neither contains bleach or dye-stripping chemicals. Vinegar can actually help colours stay brighter longer by dissolving the detergent film that dulls fabric over time, so this method is just as effective, and just as safe, on a navy towel as a white one.

The one thing to skip on coloured towels is chlorine bleach, which some guides suggest for whites-only mildew treatment. It will fade coloured fabric fast and isn't necessary anyway once the vinegar-and-baking-soda cycles have done their job. Not every fabric belongs in a hot wash cycle, either — see our guide on how to dry clean clothes at home for delicate items that need gentler care.

Methodology

This guide draws on laundry-care guidance from Clorox, The Maids, and Angi, along with towel-care specialists Weezie and Onsen Towel. Where sources disagreed on wash frequency, we used the more conservative (more frequent) recommendation for humid climates, since bacteria growth accelerates with ambient moisture.

When laundry isn't the whole problem

If musty smells keep returning no matter how towels are washed, poor bathroom ventilation or hidden mildew elsewhere in the room is often the real source. Ezi's background-checked deep cleaning providers can track down mildew at the source: grout, exhaust fans, and damp corners a load of laundry can't touch. Book a cleaning with an upfront price in a few taps.

What if the smell comes back within a day?

If mildew smell returns within a day of washing, the towels almost certainly aren't drying fully between uses, no matter how thorough the wash was. Check that they're hung fully open with space between each towel and airflow reaching the whole surface. A towel folded over a single hook or crammed next to others on a rod can stay damp at the fold for most of a day even in a dry bathroom.

The bottom line

Vinegar first, baking soda second, dry completely every time: that combination kills the bacteria causing the smell instead of just covering it up. Pair it with hanging towels spread out to dry, and mildew smell stops being a recurring problem.