Background: surgical site infection (SSI) is the infections occurring up to 30 days after surgery that affect the incision, deep tissue at the operation site or involve the organs or body space. Infection at the surgical site remains the second most common adverse event occurring to hospitalized patients and a major source of morbidity following surgical procedures. Aim of the Work: this study was done to assess the role of irrigation of partially contaminated wounds by povidone iodine in reduction of surgical site infection. Patients and Methods: this descriptive prospective study was carried out on 100 patients of potentially contaminated wounds at El-Hussein University Hospital and others, Patients divided into two groups A&B each group consisted of fifty patients, Group A: their wounds irrigated layer by layer with povidone iodine during closure, Group B: their wounds closed without irrigation with povidone iodine. Results: total number of cases with SSI in our study is twenty cases 20% of the total count. In group A there was nine cases two of them showed pus formation. While, in group B there was eleven cases eight of them undergo pus formation. Conclusion: from our study we concluded that The irrigation of the subcuta­neous tissue during closure of potentially (clean) contaminated wounds layer by layer by povidone-iodine 10% solution did not significantly reduces the surgical site infection percentage but significantly reduced the forma­tion of pus within the infected wound cavity and thus reducing the severity of surgical site infection.