Disclosed herein are photoresist cleaning solutions useful for cleaning a semiconductor substrate in the last step of a developing step when photoresist patterns are formed. Also disclosed herein are methods for forming photoresist patterns using the solutions. The cleaning solutions of the present invention include H2O as a primary component, a surfactant as an additive, and optionally an alcohol compound. The cleaning solution of the present invention has lower surface tension than that of distilled water which has been used for conventional cleaning solutions, thereby improving resistance to pattern collapse and stabilizing the photoresist pattern formation.