There is no real right and wrong with paper surfaces, and almost all surface types can produce excellent results. It really comes down to the image your are printing and the look you want to achieve.

Gloss Papers have very smooth, highly reflective surfaces (that are prone to scratching). Inherently, they offer the punchiest images due to their extremely strong blacks. They can be difficult to frame, however, due to need for them to be held perfectly flat and also due to reflection issues when behind glass. With inkjet printers, particularly pigment ink printers, you will sometimes experience 'bronzing' and 'gloss differential. See the FAQ for more details - this can be minimised by using a quality surface coating. Canson PhotoGloss is an excellent high gloss paper compatible with both dyes and pigments.

Semi-Gloss Papers have a moderately reflective texture but are very robust and stand up well to handling. They offer very deep blacks and have moderate reflection issues. Canson PhotoSatin is an excellent semi-gloss paper compatible with dye and pigment inks.

Fibre Based Alternatives are similar in texture to semi-gloss papers but generally a little more toward the matte end. The offer an almost ideal combination of deep blacks and surface robustness, with minimal reflection issues. Museo Silver Rag is a superb semi-matte paper.

Matte Papers are truly matte (sometimes called ultra-matte, or watercolour papers) - they have no reflectivity issues at all. The price you must pay for this is somewhat weaker blacks. Papers like the excellent Hahnemuehle Photo Rag offer very good blacks that stand up well to normal diffuse lighting conditions, but this surface is not ideal for exhibition under very strong, point exhibition lights. Smooth matte papers are the very best papers at letting the image speak because there is no surface texture or reflection to interfere with the image.