Several micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) systems (sodium dodecyl sulfate, lithium dodecyl sulfate, lithium perfluorooctanesulfonate, sodium cholate, sodium deoxycholate, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide) have been characterized by means of the solvation parameter model. It has been observed that the coefficients of the correlation equations depend strongly on the particular set of compounds analyzed. Principal component analysis has been used to characterize the 2975 compounds with available solute descriptors and to select an appropriate subset of compounds to be analyzed by MEKC. With this set of compounds, the MEKC systems have been characterized. Principal component analysis has also been used to show the similarities and differences between the properties of the surfactants characterized by MEKC.