Infection control is an essential component of health care settings such as hospitals, clinics, and laboratories. Infection control measures can be as easy as washing hands and as complicated as high-level disinfection of surgical instruments in a healthcare setting. Implementing infection control measures can prevent transmission of diseases in healthcare settings and the community. Sterilization is a component of the infection control procedure. It is a process to remove or destroy infectious agents such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses from materials or surfaces. All reusable items that come in contact with the patient's blood, saliva, or mucous membranes must be sterilized to prevent infection. To ensure minimal instrument damage during sterilization, microorganisms are killed by oxidation, disruption of cell membranes, interruption of DNA synthesis, and interference with protein synthesis. To sterilize an instrument three definite stages: pre-sterilization cleaning, sterilization process, and aseptic storage need to be completed. Pre-sterilization cleaning is removal of organic matter, blood, and saliva using cleaning methods, such as mechanical washing, manual cleaning, and ultrasonic cleaning. Sterilization can be classified as physical and chemical sterilization. Physical sterilization includes the use of heat (dry or moist), sunlight, gas, filtration, ultrasonic cleaning, and radiation. Chemical sterilization includes the use of oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide, benzoyol peroxide, phenol derivatives such as phenol, cresol, and chloroxylenol, aldehydes such as formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde, alcohols, quaternary ammonium compounds, metallic salts, biguanide, dyes, furan derivatives, and halogens. Aseptic storage is maintenance of sterility during transportation and storage, and instruments are kept wrapped with perforated instrument cassettes, peel pouches of plastic or paper, until ready for use. Sterilization is used in microbiology laboratories, diagnostic and surgical procedures, and drug and food manufacturing to ensure safety from contaminating organisms.