The use of clean steel technology (low sulfur with calcium treatment for inclusion shape control) is a fundamental building block in the development of high performance plate steels. A brief review will be presented of the benefits of calcium treatment and its effect on non-metallic inclusions (sulfides and oxides) and reducing sulfur levels. During the past thirty years the requirements for low sulfur levels have been reduced from 0.010% maximum to 0.001% maximum. The effects of clean steel practices on specific properties will be reviewed including tensile ductility, Charpy V-notch and fracture toughness, fatigue crack propagation and hydrogen-induced-cracking resistance. Traditional low sulfur plate steel applications have included pressure vessels, offshore platforms, plastic injection molds and line-pipe skelp. More recent applications will be discussed including bridge steels, high strength structural steels to 130 ksi (897 MPa) minimum yield strength, 9% nickel steels for cryogenic applications, and military armor.