I'm not sure about 'best', it really depends on the individual. Depends what you need out of it - humidity, heat conductivity, absorbancy, appearance, cleaning, cost? Some are better than others in different ways, so it really is based on your needs/wants. For example, aspen is worse than mulch when it comes to humidity, but I personally find it easier to spot clean. Its cheaper for me too, and then there is the environmental considerations...
Paper towels and newspapers are more hygenic but they're pretty unsightly if they're in a display tank, and if you have furniture inside it's a pain to remove everything just to change them. If not they're a breeze to change. Those are probably the most commonly used substrates, others include cocohusk, orchird bark, reptibark etc. I don't know much on those so I can't really advice.
Pine is bad due to the aromatic oils it releases which messes around with liver and respiratory functions. Apparently.
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