Gemini surfactant is known as "a new generation of surfactants" and has great commercial value. In this paper，Gemini type octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether surfactant was synthesized by one step reaction using maleic anhydride and octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether as the main raw materials. The effects of reaction time，temperature，molar ratio of maleic anhydride to octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether，and catalyst dosage on the esterification rate of the product were investigated to optimize the reaction conditions. Furthermore，the surface tension，interfacial tension，wettability，emulsification，and viscosity reduction performance of the synthesized series of Gemini surfactants were evaluated. The optimal reaction conditions were determined as follows：the molar ratio of octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether to maleic anhydride was 2∶1，the reaction temperature was 200 ℃，the catalyst dosage was 4%，and the reaction time was 6 h. Compared with the conventional surfactant OP-10，the Gemini-type surfactant exhibited a lower critical micelle concentration（c_cmc）and superior oil-washing and viscosity-reduction performance. The gemini-type octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether surfactant（MOP-10）showed a c_cmc value of 0.052 mmol/L，and the interfacial tension between 1% MOP-10 solution and heavy oil reached 8.04×10^-2 mN/m，both one order of magnitude lower than those of OP-10. With the increase of the number of ethoxy groups in the Gemini-type octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether structure，the c_cmc value gradually decreased，while surface tension and interfacial tension increased，leading to a reduction in oil-washing and viscosity-reduction efficiency. This synthetic route is simple，the source of raw materials is wide，and the price is low. It can be used as an intermediate product to synthesize a variety of surfactants or polymers，and provide new raw materials for the development of surfactants and the modification of polymers.