Embodiments of the current invention describe ammonia hydroxide treatments for surfaces. In one embodiment, a method and a cleaning solution including ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH), water (H2O), a chelating agent, and a surfactant for cleaning silicon germanium substrates are described. The cleaning solution does not include hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) because hydrogen peroxide etches germanium. In another embodiment, a method of terminating oxidized surfaces on semiconductor substrates with terminating groups that promote the bonding of the oxidized surface to another surface with a surface treatment containing ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) is described. The oxidized surface is immediately bonded to a second substrate after evaporation of the surface treatment.