The invention provides an oral care composition suitable for delivering a temporary whitening effect to the surface of teeth, the composition comprising: a continuous phase comprising water or polyhydric alcohol or a mixture thereof a tooth surface whitening agent which is dispersed in the continuous phase, and a deposition aid for the tooth surface whitening agent characterised in that the tooth surface whitening agent is a lake dye formed by fixing a dye onto a particulate inorganic substrate, in which the dye used to form the lake dye is a triarylmethane dye having a blue to green-blue colour with a hue angle in the CIELAB system ranging from 180 to 270 degrees, and in which the amount of lake dye is at least 0.015% by total weight lake dye based on the total weight of the composition.
