Pine oil is used as a cleaning product, disinfectant, sanitizer, microbicide (or microbistat), virucide or insecticide. It is an effective herbicide where its action is to modify the waxy cuticle of plants, resulting in desiccation. Pine oil is a disinfectant that is mildly antiseptic.
It has germicidal properties and is employed medically as a principal constituent of general disinfectants. It is also used in odorants, insecticides, detergents, wetting and emulsifying agents, wax preparations, and antifoaming agents and in textile scouring and the flotation process for refining lead and zinc ores.