Anthropogenic waste deposition in aquatic environments precipitates a decline in water quality, engendering pollution that adversely impacts human health, ecological integrity, and economic endeavors. The evolution of underwater robotic technologies heralds a new era in the timely identification and extraction of submerged litter, offering a proactive measure against the scourge of water pollution. This study introduces a refined YOLOv8-based algorithm tailored for the enhanced detection of small-scale underwater debris, aiming to mitigate the prevalent challenges of high miss and false detection rates in aquatic settings. The research presents the YOLOv8-C2f-Faster-EMA algorithm, which optimizes the backbone, neck layer, and C2f module for underwater characteristics and incorporates an effective attention mechanism. This algorithm improves the accuracy of underwater litter detection while simplifying the computational model. Empirical evidence underscores the superiority of this method over the conventional YOLOv8n framework, manifesting in a significant uplift in detection performance. Notably, the proposed method realized a 6.7% increase in precision (P), a 4.1% surge in recall (R), and a 5% enhancement in mean average precision (mAP). Transcending its foundational utility in marine conservation, this methodology harbors potential for subsequent integration into remote sensing ventures. Such an adaptation could substantially enhance the precision of detection models, particularly in the realm of localized surveillance, thereby broadening the scope of its applicability and impact.