The invention provides cleaning and detergent compositions containing about:5 to 30 weight % of a surfactant and10 to 30 weight % of a builder mixture consisting of alkali metal orthophosphate, alkali metal pyrophosphate, alkali metal tripolyphosphate and alkali metal melt phosphate, wherein the ratio by weight of the sum of orthophosphate, pyrophosphate and tripolyphosphate to melt phosphate is about 30:1 to 1:30, the ratio by weight of orthophosphate to pyrophosphate is about 10:1 to 1:10, and the ratio by weight of orthophosphate to tripolyphosphate is about 20:1 to 1:20, the balance being detergent auxiliaries and addends.