The invention relates to a curable dental retraction composition comprising alginate and a solvent, with the proviso that essentially no crosslinker in an amount effective to start setting of the curable dental retraction composition is present. The invention also relates to a container containing said composition and to a kit comprising two parts, wherein the first part comprises the curable dental retraction composition of the present invention and the second part comprises a crosslinker being able to start setting of the dental retraction composition.