How to Clean Bathroom Tile and Grout - The New York Times

The best way to clean tile and grout in your home is going to vary. It will depend on everything from the kind of stain you're removing to the material your grout is made of. That makes it nearly impossible to find one cleaning solution that will work in all cases—without damaging your bathroom walls. But once you identify what you're dealing with, you can be more effective and targeted when cleaning.

The first thing to remember is that, as with a lot of cleaning situations, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You're better off protecting your tile and grout than trying to rescue it.

"The best way to clean heavily stained or aged grout is to maintain a cleaning schedule. Do not allow stains and soils to build up over time," said David Mowery, a business manager of Tile and Stone Installation Systems for the MAPEI Corporation, in an email. "The sooner you address grout stains, the better."