I have ceiling lights with brass and gold plated metal. From what I understand you are suppose to use just a damp cloth.

I tried that and it doesn't seem to be enough to get it clean and shiny again because it's in the kitchen and it has some buildup.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

A cleaner called Brasso works excellent for brass, I'm not sure about the gold.

Brasso is good but you can also try 91% rubbing alcohol. I have brass chandeliers all over my home and found that the rubbing alcohol works just fine in taking off the grease in my kitchen's brass chandelier. You may want to try 70% first to see how that works.

How do I clean of the tarnish from an old brass gold plated chandellier

There is a product called Brasso that works very well I used it for many years in a club I worked at that had tarnished brass from the late 40's, made it look like new. Good Luck!