What do you use to clean your wood floors? The best hardwood floor cleaners target dirt without damaging your finish. They leave a lasting shine to make your flooring look new again.

How do you know which kind of hardwood floor cleaner you need? Start shopping once you know what kind of finish is on your floor. This avoids damaging the surface.

For example, new floors are usually sealed with urethane, polyurethane, or polyacrylic coatings that are resistant to water and stains. You can clean these floors with almost any hardwood floor cleaner. (But please skip ammonia, bleach, abrasive cleaners, and furniture spray.)

Older flooring is more delicate because it has lacquer, varnish, or shellac for surface sealing. Also, some laminate floors have a durable coating, but only on the boards, not between them. In these cases, look for a mild cleaner that you can spray on without the need for water to dilute it, or rinse it.

Pro tip: before you mop your floor, sweep it or use the bare floor setting on your vacuum. This prevents scratching the surface and keeps your mop clear of debris so you’re not just pushing dirt around.

Top Hardwood Floor Cleaners

Now let’s get into the reviews of the best hardwood floor cleaners. We hope we help you find exactly what you need to make cleanup easy.

Black Diamond Wood & Laminate Floor Cleaner, For Hardwood, Real, Natural & Engineered Flooring

Black Diamond’s floor cleaner is mild enough for a variety of wood surfaces. This biodegradable cleaner is made in the USA and tested to be hypoallergenic. That’s good news if you like to clean barefoot.

All you need to do is spray it and wipe it. You’ll never have to rinse. It cleans up sticky spills, dust, and dirt but won’t make your pets or children sick. Then the streak-free shine repels dirt once it’s dry.

Bona Free & Simple Hardwood Floor Cleaner

Bona’s Free and Simple cleaner is GreenGuard Gold certified. This high standard for cleaning products means that the cleaner is free of common allergens like artificial dyes and perfumes. The formula is safe for both pets and children, too. Moreover, it eliminates over 99.3% of all allergens found on hard surfaces. Users say it leaves the floor shiny and clean but not slippery.

Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Spray

Bona’s regular hardwood floor solution is a spray on, wipe off cleaner that needs no rinsing. It’s compatible with unwaxed flooring with a polyurethane finish. It’s water-based and leaves no residue. Furthermore, it’s GreenGuard Gold-certified to be hypoallergenic.

Bona Hardwood Powerplus Deep Cleaner

The Powerplus Deep Cleaner from Bona may remind you of hydrogen peroxide. It bubbles away dirt with its oxygenated formula. Save this one for when you need to take care of tough messes.

Sheiner’s Hardwood Floor Cleaner

Sheiner’s floor cleaner makes your home smell fresh and clean with its delicious citrus scent. It’s biodegradable and non-toxic to people and pets. Not only can you use it on sealed hardwood floors, but you can also clean laminate flooring with it. The formula doesn’t need to be diluted and doesn’t  streak or leave a film.

Weiman Hardwood Floor Cleaner & Polish Restorer Combo

The Weiman cleaner and polish combo comes with two bottles. First, spray the cleaner on the floor, mop, and let it dry. Then apply the polish by squirting it onto the flooring, then mopping with a clean microfiber pad. Customers say it fills in light scratches and makes their floor look like new.

The cleaner and polish are compatible with engineered hardwood, laminate, and finished pine, oak, bamboo, and more. They have plant-based ingredients that are safe for pets and children once the surface has dried. And the shiny finish should last for a month or longer.

Method Squirt + Mop Hardwood Floor Cleaner

Method’s cleaner is also non-toxic and biodegradable. It’s gentle enough for both sealed hardwood and laminate flooring. Plus, it’s available in a variety of scents including rich almond. The no-rinse spray comes in a bottle with a specially-designed nozzle for maximum coverage.

Quick Shine Concentrated Floor Cleaner

The Quick Shine floor cleaner has an interesting feature if you care about VOC emissions in your home.

It’s a Safer Choice product which means that it meets EPA standards for its non-toxic ingredients, level of VOC emissions, acidity, and even packaging. It’s safe for pets and people as well as the environment when compared to similar products.

Minwax 621270004 Hardwood Floor Cleaner

Minwax’s cleaner works well whether you use a mop, microfiber pad, or a cloth. It’s free of solvents and perfect for unwaxed finishes on laminate flooring and hardwood. (Don’t use it on unfinished, shellacked, oil, or waxed wood.) Just spray it on, let it work for a few minutes, then mop it dry. It leaves no residue and does not require dilution.

Zep ZUHLF32 Hardwood and Laminate Floor Cleaner

Zep’s hardwood floor cleaner is mild enough to use on laminate and it doesn’t need to be mixed with water. Customers appreciate the fresh, clean scent and the way it leaves their floors shiny without streaks or waxy buildup.

Pine-Sol Squirt ‘N Mop

The classic Pine-Sol comes in a ready-to-use formula that you can squirt on and wipe off. Not only does it remove dirt, but it also deodorizes with the traditional pine fragrance. Please note that it’s not compatible with unsealed or unfinished wood, marble, copper, or aluminum.

Murphy Oil Soap

Murphy’s oil soap cleans hardwood floors and laminate as well as finished wood surfaces like tables, chairs, cabinets, bookcases, and more. You can even use it on painted surfaces, cars, vinyl, and ceramic tile. The phosphate-free biodegradable formula quickly removes sticky spills and leaves a satin shine.

Armstrong 64+32 fl oz Hardwood Floor Cleaner Citrus Fusion

Armstrong’s cleaner doesn’t need diluting before you mop your laminate or finished wood floors. This package includes a quart-size spray bottle plus a half-gallon size refill. Users say that it dries quickly and doesn’t leave streaks.

Pledge Gentle Wood Floor Cleaner

Did you know that you can wash your floor with Pledge? Of course, it’s not the same spray that you’d use to dust your furniture. Instead, this lemon-scented formula comes in a squirt-and-mop bottle that’s safe for finished and sealed surfaces. It lifts away grime and makes floors look luminous without leaving a film.

Shark Wood & Hard Floor Cleaner

Shark’s liquid cleaner is premixed and ready to remove pet messes and juice spills. It leaves a delightful Italian citrus scent in the air. Not only can you clean hardwood with it, but you can also use it on laminate, tile, vinyl, and stone floors. In addition, it’s mild to protect your pets and family.

Swiffer Wetjet Hardwood Floor Mopping and Cleaning Solution

Swiffer makes their own cleaning solution for the Wetjet floor mop. It’s available in various fragrances including Lavender Vanilla and Comfort, Sweet Citrus and Zest, and even Gain detergent scent. You don’t need to add water. Just pop the refill into the mop and get to work. The liquid quickly dissolves sticky grime on hardwood floors. Just don’t apply it to unfinished, waxed, or oiled wood.

HOOVER Multi-Floor Plus Hard Floor Cleaner Formula Detergent Solution

Hoover’s solution is compatible with its Floormate hard floor cleaner machines. It’s not made for mopping. The fresh linen scent deodorizes the air while the liquid removes stains and dirt from sealed wood, vinyl, laminate, marble, and ceramic tile flooring. In addition, it’s 100% biodegradable, safe for septic systems, and non-toxic to humans and animals.

Tricks to make cleaning your hardwood floor easier

Are you tired of waiting for the floor to dry? It’s time to switch to a microfiber mop head. This fabric scrubs away grime without scratching surfaces. Plus, it helps the floor to dry quickly because it doesn’t saturate it like a traditional cotton mop.  Try microfiber cloth pads on tools like the Swiffer Wetjet for maximum convenience.

Next, try dry-mopping with electrostatic fabric pads for quick dust removal. This makes middle-of-the-week touch-ups a breeze.

If your current vacuum doesn’t have the option, invest in one that has a bare floor setting. This allows you to turn off the beater brush to avoid scratching the flooring. Many canister vacuums have a special attachment for hardwood and laminate floors, too.

What if you have discoloration like pet stains, water spots, or heel marks on the hardwood? Experiment with No. 000 steel wool and a little floor wax. Massage the wax into the spot with the wool. It should make the stain disappear.

If you have a busy family with pets and children, consider investing in a hardwood floor cleaner. It steams away dirt and germs to keep flooring sanitary.

Oil-based stains aren’t hard to remove if you rub dish soap into them with a soft cloth. Then rinse with warm water. Don’t be afraid to repeat if necessary. Although you need to keep water exposure to a minimum, you can smooth down raised grain with fine grit sandpaper.

You can extend the lifetime of your finish by keeping the floor clean. Dust mop and sweep regularly to get grit off the surface. Wet-mop to remove grime and spills. Then apply a coat of polish or wax each month (or quarterly, depending on wear) to keep the floor shiny and well-protected.

Conclusion

A clean floor makes a home feel more welcoming. We hope our reviews of the best hardwood floor cleaners helped you find a new product to try today. Let us know how it worked for you. And visit us again soon to discover solutions that make cleaning easier and more pleasant to do.