Murphy's Oil Soap and Scotts Liquid Gold is my wife's secret.  she has been using those for years

We bought our current house ten years ago.  I had watched the house built in 1972, and thought the woodwork and wood panels were fantastic.  I was disappointed at how they looked when we inspected the house before buying, not at all like I remembered when it was new.  The wood panels in some rooms were dull and lusterless, and the kitchen cabinets appeared to be dark Mediterranean wood, not the bright cherry I had remembered. 

Wife got to work on the wood first with Murphy's oil Soap, then with liquid gold.  It took five years of cleaning each year before the luster came back.  The cabinets are now a shiny cherry color, and the paneled rooms shine and are no longer dry and rough.  When I helped with the first application of liquid gold, I almost got splinters in my hands, now the walls are smooth.

We did use some steel wool on some really bad areas, but very lightly.  The main ingredient in salvaging the wood in this house was elbow grease and good finish product.