Introduction: Surgical site infections (SSI) are an important health problem that develop after surgical interventions and can have serious negative effects on patient health. Surgical nurses play a critical role in the prevention of these infections. Objective: This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge of nurses working in surgical clinics about SSI. Method: The population of this descriptive and cross-sectional study consisted of 170 nurses working in the surgical units of Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine Balcalı Hospital. The sample of the study consisted of 142 (83 %) nurses who met the inclusion criteria in April-June 2024. The data were collected using a questionnaire form designed to test the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and their level of knowledge about surgical site infection. In addition to descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Student t-test were used to analyse the data. Results: Of the nurses who participated in the study, 78.9 % were female and 72.5 % received training on SSI in the institution. The mean number of correct answers given by the nurses to the questions about SSI was 20±2.4 and the mean number of incorrect answers was 8 ± 2.4. It was found that there was a statistically significant relationship between the number of correct answers given by the nurses and gender, age groups, education, working time in surgical units and in the institution, working style, and SSI training status (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that increasing the level of knowledge of surgical nurses about SSI is of great importance in terms of preventing infections and ensuring patient safety. In this context, it is recommended that health institutions should organise continuous education programmes and nurses should actively participate in these programmes. In addition, it is recommended to improve the working conditions of nurses to increase the applicability of infection control measures.