diff --git a/cmd/collector/app/sanitizer/sanitizer.go b/cmd/collector/app/sanitizer/sanitizer.go
index 20da1ada33d9..a17b1351aac8 100644
--- a/cmd/collector/app/sanitizer/sanitizer.go
+++ b/cmd/collector/app/sanitizer/sanitizer.go
@@ -23,7 +23,13 @@ import (
 // span should implement this interface.
 type SanitizeSpan func(span *model.Span) *model.Span
 
-// NewChainedSanitizer creates a Sanitizer from the variadic list of passed Sanitizers
+// StandardSanitizers are automatically applied by SpanProcessor.
+var StandardSanitizers []SanitizeSpan = []SanitizeSpan{
+	NewEmptyServiceNameSanitizer(),
+}
+
+// NewChainedSanitizer creates a Sanitizer from the variadic list of passed Sanitizers.
+// If the list only has one element, it is returned directly to minimize indirection.
 func NewChainedSanitizer(sanitizers ...SanitizeSpan) SanitizeSpan {
 	if len(sanitizers) == 1 {
 		return sanitizers[0]
diff --git a/cmd/collector/app/span_processor.go b/cmd/collector/app/span_processor.go
index c7860698e13e..816f5b4837b3 100644
--- a/cmd/collector/app/span_processor.go
+++ b/cmd/collector/app/span_processor.go
@@ -96,9 +96,7 @@ func newSpanProcessor(spanWriter spanstore.Writer, additional []ProcessSpan, opt
 	}
 	boundedQueue := queue.NewBoundedQueue(options.queueSize, droppedItemHandler)
 
-	sanitizers := []sanitizer.SanitizeSpan{
-		sanitizer.NewEmptyServiceNameSanitizer(),
-	}
+	sanitizers := append([]sanitizer.SanitizeSpan{}, sanitizer.StandardSanitizers...)
 	if options.sanitizer != nil {
 		sanitizers = append(sanitizers, options.sanitizer)
 	}