In Spanish, what is the common/everyday use past tense?

It depends on the context; just like in French, you have to choose between the imperfect and the prefect past. And in Spanish too, there is a simple past (preterite), and a compound past. The simple past is actually used just as much as the compound tense, and it has no special literary sense, unlike in French. There are no tenses in Spanish that are used only in literary situations. Every tense (even the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive) can be used in informal speech.