Sterilization is the process of removing microorganisms, spores and cells from an object. This is important since continuations can cause infection when they introduced into skin or flesh. Many STDs can also be transmitted different people through use of non-treated utensils. In hospitals, a lot of effort is put into sterilizing as much of the equipment as possible using heat, light and chemicals. Disinfection is has the same purpose as sterilization, but not as powerful - disinfectants only reduce the amount of microorganisms rather than eliminate them completely.
For S&M play where the skin of a person is cut or penetrated, disinfection becomes important. As a simple rule of thumb, the larger the affected area is and the deeper the cuts are, the more important it is to properly clean your toys. Complete sterilization is very difficult with achieve with materials found in most homes but there are many things that can be done to disinfect.
The first step is to thoroughly clean the object to remove any visible dirt, dust or residue. After that, the treatment depends mostly on the material used.
Equally important as cleaning your tools is keeping them clean after disinfection. The best way to do so is to disinfect materials as late as possible before use. After disinfection handle only with disinfected gloves. Some people recommend that you can lay heat sterilized objects on aluminum foil in the oven and wrap them up as soon as they are removed from the oven. Another possibility is to disinfect again with alcohol as close before use as possible. This will also remove any remaining traces of bleach.