This paper examines the sex industry in Surabaya, Indonesia, during the Dutch colonial period (1852-1930). Prostitution was a major social phenomenon in Surabaya, and the Dutch colonial government implemented a number of measures to curb the social and health problems associated with it. This study explores how the Dutch approached prostitution through their policies in this era. Primary and secondary sources are used to discuss how prostitution activities were organized as a social institution and how they were practiced in the colonial city of Surabaya during its most dynamic period of development. The Dutch colonial government sought to monitor prostitution in the city center, where Dutch and other European citizens resided, but did not directly control this activity in the suburbs. Before 1913, prostitution in the city was mainly supervised in connection with the army and serving soldiers. The increasingly indifference to the proliferation of prostitution leads to a lack of material regarding prostitution in the city in the 1930s.This paper examines the sex industry in Surabaya, Indonesia, during the Dutch colonial period (1852-1930). Prostitution was a major social phenomenon in Surabaya, and the Dutch colonial government implemented a number of measures to curb the social and health problems associated with it. This study explores how the Dutch approached prostitution through their policies in this era. Primary and secondary sources are used to discuss how prostitution activities were organized as a social institution and how they were practiced in the colonial city of Surabaya during its most dynamic period of development. The Dutch colonial government sought to monitor prostitution in the city center, where Dutch and other European citizens resided, but did not directly control this activity in the suburbs. Before 1913, prostitution in the city was mainly supervised in connection with the army and serving soldiers. The increasingly indifference to the proliferation of prostitution leads to a lack of material regarding prostitution in the city in the 1930s.