Experimental study and semi-theoretical analysis are conducted on the nucleate pool boiling characteristics of the heated hydrophilic surfaces. Since the semi-analytical modeling framework of Benjamin and Balakrishnan has been proved to be successful when applied to the heating surface without considering contact angle. Combined with the above model and the effect of contact angle, a revised semi-analytical model is proposed in this paper. Considering the coupling relation of the bubble growth time and the bubble departure diameter, the selected correlation of bubble departure diameter can be used to directly calculate the bubble growth time and the microlayer area under the bubble with considering contact angle. These improvements make the present model suitable for the heated hydrophilic surfaces. Rules and effect of contact angle on the nucleate pool boiling characteristics of the heated hydrophilic surfaces are obtained from the semi-analytical model. The predicted results are in good agreement with experimental results on heated hydrophilic surfaces. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.