Making imported images transparent

Hi folks,

New to photoshop. I was wondering if anyone knew how to make an imported image transparent so that I can put the image on a specific background without the white space. I've tried the lasso and the eraser to get rid of the original white background that the image is on, but neither of those tools are very neat. Does anyone have a quick and easy solution?

If you use the magic wand on a bg that is similar in color, you can select the bg easier. I prefer the pen tool to create a selection myself though, but I'm way too sleepy to go into detail. :p