Natural stones - especially calcite-based stones such as marble, travertine, limestone - have a delicate chemical composition that may interact in damaging ways with the chemistry of cleaning solutions that were not specifically formulated for the task. Once you know what to use, all you have to do is follow the basic DOs 'n' DON'Ts listed here:
GENERAL
Spills can be very different in nature from one another. Most of them will turn out to be detrimental to stone if unattended. Orange juice, lemonade, wine, vinegar, liquors, tomato sauce, yogurt, salad dressing, perfume, after shave, wrong cleaning products and so on, through a long list, most likely won't damage "granite" and "green marble" surfaces, but will etch polished marble, travertine, limestone, onyx and alabaster. Therefore, DO pick up any spill as quickly as you can get to it. DON'T rub the spill, only blot it. DON'T use any generic cleaning product on your natural stone, unless the label specifies that it's safe on natural marble.
KITCHEN COUNTER TOPS
While any spray cleaner off the shelves of your local supermarket could prove itself too harsh - therefore damaging - for the delicate makeup of calcite-based stones like marble, travertine, limestone, theoretically it could be safely used to clean "granite" and green marbles (at least most of them). However, all true granites and all green marbles need to be sealed with a good-quality impregnator-type penetrating sealer, and these sealers - although invisible - must be dealt with from a maintenance point of view. In other words, while generic spray cleaners wouldn't (maybe) damage the stone itself, they could turn out to be detrimental to the impregnator-sealer, which will eventually lead to staining of your unprotected counter top. In order not to take chances, DON'T let any spill sit too long on the surface of your counter top. Clean spills up as soon as you can.
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