Research on the detection of potential residue on objects previously cleaned with aqueous solvent gels was carried out in two phases. In the first, a model system for detecting gel residues was established. During the process Carbopol was found to be unsuitable as a marker molecule for detecting gel residues. The focus then switched to using the surfactant in the gel mixture as a marker. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography and pyrolysis-mass spectrometry did not yield suitable results, but positive results were obtained by pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (py-GC-MS). The second phase involved the examination of ten samples from seven objects that had been cleaned with aqueous gels between 1987 and 1999. The samples were analysed for gel residues using py-GC-MS. No gel residues were found. It is possible that the surfactant was removed during gel clearance to levels below detection limits and/or that the surfactant had degraded. -- SCMRE