The detection of four formaldehyde (H2CO) maser regions toward young high-mass stellar objects in the last decade, in addition to the three previously known regions, calls for an investigation of whether H2CO masers are an exclusive tracer of young high-mass stellar objects. We report the first survey specifically focused on the search for 6 cm H2CO masers toward non high-mass star-forming regions (non HMSFRs). The observations were conducted with the 305 m Arecibo Telescope toward 25 low-mass star-forming regions, 15 planetary nebulae and post-AGB stars, and 31 late-type stars. We detected no H2CO emission in our sample of non HMSFRs. To check for the association between high-mass star formation and H2CO masers, we also conducted a survey toward 22 high-mass star-forming regions from a Hi-GAL (Herschel infrared Galactic Plane Survey) sample known to harbor 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers. We detected a new 6 cm H2CO emission line in G32.74−0.07. This work provides further evidence that supports an exclusive association between H2CO masers and young regions of high-mass star formation. Furthermore, we detected H2CO absorption toward all Hi-GAL sources, and toward 24 low-mass star-forming regions. We also conducted a simultaneous survey for OH (4660, 4750, 4765 MHz), H110α (4874 MHz), HCOOH (4916 MHz), CH3OH (5005 MHz), and CH2NH (5289 MHz) toward 68 of the sources in our sample of non HMSFRs. With the exception of the detection of a 4765 MHz OH line toward a pre-planetary nebula (IRAS 04395+3601), we detected no other spectral line to an upper limit of 15 mJy for most sources.
