If your carpet gets wet for any reason, even if you use a carpet cleaner to clean it, you should do all you can to get it as dry as you can in the shortest amount of time. Check on dehumidifier rentals at your local hardware store if you do not own one yourself. If you just let the carpet dry on it's own you could be encouraging mold to form and grow in and under the carpet.
The moisture basically gets trapped in the fibers and backing of the carpet and then will attract mold spores and dust mites who love that type of environment. Carpet should be completely dried within 48 hours of becoming wet, according to the Department of Health.
Soak up as much as you can with towels and then use a wet/dry vacuum to suck up some additional moisture. A wet/dry vacuum should be able to pull a lot of moisture up from the backing as well. If you do not have one of these you can rent one when you check out dehumidifier rentals.
You could open the window for a while but if there is any amount of humidity in the air outside all you will do is prolong the drying time for your carpet. Your best bet is to leave the doors and windows closed, run some fans on high and run a dehumidifier and even your air conditioner. The circulating air will draw moisture out as well.
You can also rent an industrial powered fan that will dry your carpet quickly but they are incredibly loud and since you have to communicate with the other people who live in your house this may not be a good option unless you can run it while no one is at home.
When the carpet is dry to the touch then sprinkle it with some baking soda to absorb the little bit of moisture that could be lingering. After the baking soda has been on the carpet for thirty minutes then vacuum it up and your carpet should be in tip top shape.
Keep running the dehumidifier for a few days just to be sure that everything is dry and stays that way. Just make sure to check it frequently and empty the collection bucket as needed so you do not have another mess to clean up.
There are mold resistant carpets you can buy and if you did, then, though you still need to dry your carpet quickly because you want to be able to walk on it, you may not have to do any more than run a fan or two on high and a dehumidifier to get the job done. Mold will not start invading the underside of your carpet.
Rental places have all sorts of everyday items you can rent for a fee. All those things we talked about and a lot more. So if you do not have the budget to buy your own dehumidifier then maybe you should find out about dehumidifier rentals.
