diff --git a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory.go b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory.go
index 24ffc9c3e334..21a0af4a04b5 100644
--- a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory.go
+++ b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory.go
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ func createMetricsProcessor(
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("configuration parsing error")
 	}
 
-	metricsProcessor := newCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(processorConfig, set.Logger)
+	metricsProcessor, err := newCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(processorConfig, set.Logger)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 
 	return processorhelper.NewMetrics(
 		ctx,
diff --git a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory_test.go b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory_test.go
index 6926b4257d6d..b309bc430396 100644
--- a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory_test.go
+++ b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/factory_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package cumulativetodeltaprocessor
 import (
 	"context"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
@@ -61,6 +62,12 @@ func TestCreateProcessors(t *testing.T) {
 				processortest.NewNopSettings(),
 				cfg,
 				consumertest.NewNop())
+
+			if strings.Contains(k, "invalid") {
+				assert.Error(t, mErr)
+				assert.Nil(t, mp)
+				return
+			}
 			assert.NotNil(t, mp)
 			assert.NoError(t, mErr)
 			assert.NoError(t, mp.Shutdown(context.Background()))
diff --git a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor.go b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor.go
index f81c61928af1..78bfbaf3fd1c 100644
--- a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor.go
+++ b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package cumulativetodeltaprocessor // import "github.com/open-telemetry/opentele
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -25,14 +26,12 @@ type cumulativeToDeltaProcessor struct {
 	cancelFunc         context.CancelFunc
 }
 
-func newCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(config *Config, logger *zap.Logger) *cumulativeToDeltaProcessor {
+func newCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(config *Config, logger *zap.Logger) (*cumulativeToDeltaProcessor, error) {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+
 	p := &cumulativeToDeltaProcessor{
-		logger:             logger,
-		deltaCalculator:    tracking.NewMetricTracker(ctx, logger, config.MaxStaleness, config.InitialValue),
-		cancelFunc:         cancel,
-		includeMetricTypes: getMetricTypeFilter(config.Include.MetricTypes),
-		excludeMetricTypes: getMetricTypeFilter(config.Exclude.MetricTypes),
+		logger:     logger,
+		cancelFunc: cancel,
 	}
 	if len(config.Include.Metrics) > 0 {
 		p.includeFS, _ = filterset.CreateFilterSet(config.Include.Metrics, &config.Include.Config)
@@ -40,10 +39,29 @@ func newCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(config *Config, logger *zap.Logger) *cumulati
 	if len(config.Exclude.Metrics) > 0 {
 		p.excludeFS, _ = filterset.CreateFilterSet(config.Exclude.Metrics, &config.Exclude.Config)
 	}
-	return p
+
+	if len(config.Include.MetricTypes) > 0 {
+		includeMetricTypeFilter, err := getMetricTypeFilter(config.Include.MetricTypes)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		p.includeMetricTypes = includeMetricTypeFilter
+	}
+
+	if len(config.Exclude.MetricTypes) > 0 {
+		excludeMetricTypeFilter, err := getMetricTypeFilter(config.Exclude.MetricTypes)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		p.excludeMetricTypes = excludeMetricTypeFilter
+	}
+
+	p.deltaCalculator = tracking.NewMetricTracker(ctx, logger, config.MaxStaleness, config.InitialValue)
+
+	return p, nil
 }
 
-func getMetricTypeFilter(types []string) map[pmetric.MetricType]bool {
+func getMetricTypeFilter(types []string) (map[pmetric.MetricType]bool, error) {
 	res := map[pmetric.MetricType]bool{}
 	for _, t := range types {
 		switch strings.ToLower(t) {
@@ -52,9 +70,10 @@ func getMetricTypeFilter(types []string) map[pmetric.MetricType]bool {
 		case strings.ToLower(pmetric.MetricTypeHistogram.String()):
 			res[pmetric.MetricTypeHistogram] = true
 		default:
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported metric type filter: %s", t)
 		}
 	}
-	return res
+	return res, nil
 }
 
 // processMetrics implements the ProcessMetricsFunc type.
diff --git a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor_test.go b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor_test.go
index d515753c8de5..c36a8f06cb0b 100644
--- a/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor_test.go
+++ b/processor/cumulativetodeltaprocessor/processor_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package cumulativetodeltaprocessor
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"math"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@ type cumulativeToDeltaTest struct {
 	exclude    MatchMetrics
 	inMetrics  pmetric.Metrics
 	outMetrics pmetric.Metrics
+	wantError  error
 }
 
 func TestCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(t *testing.T) {
@@ -604,6 +606,20 @@ func TestCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(t *testing.T) {
 					isCumulative: []bool{false},
 				}),
 		},
+		{
+			name: "cumulative_to_delta_unsupported_include_metric_type",
+			include: MatchMetrics{
+				MetricTypes: []string{"summary"},
+			},
+			wantError: errors.New("unsupported metric type filter: summary"),
+		},
+		{
+			name: "cumulative_to_delta_unsupported_exclude_metric_type",
+			include: MatchMetrics{
+				MetricTypes: []string{"summary"},
+			},
+			wantError: errors.New("unsupported metric type filter: summary"),
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range testCases {
@@ -621,6 +637,12 @@ func TestCumulativeToDeltaProcessor(t *testing.T) {
 				cfg,
 				next,
 			)
+
+			if test.wantError != nil {
+				require.ErrorContains(t, err, test.wantError.Error())
+				require.Nil(t, mgp)
+				return
+			}
 			assert.NotNil(t, mgp)
 			assert.NoError(t, err)