Short-hydrophobe surfactants based on cosolvent species have been studied as novel surfactants for enhanced oil recovery. The objective of this research is to investigate such simple surfactants as a sole additive that enhances the efficiency of oil displacement by creating low-tension polymer (LTP) fronts. This paper presents the potential enhancement of oil displacement efficiency by LTP flooding based on comprehensive experimental data, such as interfacial tensions (IFTs), surfactant partition coefficients, surfactant adsorption in a sandpack, polymer/LTP rheology, and sandpack flooding results. The optimal LTP identified was composed of 0.5 wt % 2-ethylhexanol-7PO-15EO in partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer solution, which reduced the IFT with heavy oil from 15.8 to 0.025 dyn/cm, without creating microemulsions. The surfactant adsorption in the sandpack was only 0.055 mg-surfactant/g-sand. Sandpack flooding results show that the LTP flooding achieved an incremental oil recovery in comparison to straight-polymer flooding. The oil recovery at 1 pore-volume injected (PVI) was 47% original-oil-in-place (OOIP) for the polymer flooding, 63% for the smaller LTP slugs (0.5 wt % surfactant for 0.1 PVI and 0.1 wt % surfactant for 0.5 PVI), and 70% for the larger LTP slug (0.5 wt % surfactant for 0.5 PVI). Fractional flow theory was applied to confirm that the IFT reduction by 3 orders of magnitude was conducive to a lowered residual oil saturation in LTP flooding, leading to a delayed polymer breakthrough and an increased oil cut thereafter in comparison to polymer flooding.