The near-infrared photothermal ability of pristine surfactant-exfoliated graphene was studied and demonstrated through the thermal ablation of mammalian NG108-15 cells. The graphene microsheets were prepared with polyethylene glycol triblock surfactants to improve biocompatibility while achieving high yields using a scalable and low-cost production method without the need for costly and time-consuming purification steps. The cytotoxicity of the surfactant-coated graphene was studied and it showed moderate toxicity. The ability of the exfoliated graphene to withstand extreme temperature cycling was demonstrated, highlighting the suitability of this material for multiple thermal ablation exposures. The pristine nature of the graphene sheets results in greater absorption in the near-infrared compared with graphene oxide or reduced graphene oxide. The photothermal transduction efficiency was also enhanced and determined to be ≈80% at 808 nm leading to the high efficacy of pristine graphene as an ablation agent.