a surfactant (surface active agent) is a chemical compound in which the basic structure is at least two blocks with an opposite nature: one hydrophobic and the other hydrophylic. This latter may be ionic or ionizable or purely polar. This double nature make them to self assemble in solution once a crtitical micellar concentration (CMC) is reached in the form of vesicles or spheres. If the concentration is further increased they keep there self assembly character but with changing the geometrical forms to rods, cubes; till they reach a bi-continouous distribution of both the solvent and the surfactant (the solute). Usually there selection for a particular application is based on the HLB (hydrophilic-lipophilic balance) factor; this is in general a measure of the activity of these materials. Regards
Basically a surfactant is a surface active agent which affects the surface tension between 2 different solvents. It forms micells with their head and tail. Some surfactants are charged (positive or negative). they can be used based on their charge, electrostatic interaction with other reactants. Please read more on Stober particles to understand the details.
I think it is simple one You can see even in Google. I think it depends on you that which type materials are you going to prepare. It is not always true that surfactant is used for nano particle production to avoid agglomeration. It is also used for the separation process and mostly as structure directing agent. Mainly you can keep your NPs in organic solvent to avoid agglomeration.