Photoshop: How to make background transparent without impacting image quality?

I'm really new to Photoshop. I use Indesign and Illustrator reguarly but not photoshop. I have a picture of a product (books basically) that has a white background and I need that background to be transparent. I found a few tutorials that helped, but when I follow those I find that the image ends up looking grainy or not as clear. What is the best way to change the background to transparent without losing the image quality?