An experimental investigation was carried out on the boiling heat transfer characteristics of water and R-11 on the outside of a horizontal heated tube in narrow spaces. Two kinds of heat transfer surfaces (roll-worked and smooth surfaces) were tested, The test section consisted of a narrow annular space formed by enclosing the heated tube in all isolated concentric outer tube with two horizontal slats on the top and bottom. The nucleate boiling heat transfer characteristics were investigated experimentally at atmospheric pressure. The experimental results indicated that a single roll-worked tube in bulk liquid showed better boiling heat transfer than a single smooth tube. In the narrow spaces, the boiling heat transfer coefficients for the smooth tube were considerably enhanced when the gap size was so selected as to take an optimum value. There was no clear optimum gap size for heat transfer enhancement for the roll-worked tube in the narrow spaces. Enhancement of boiling heat transfer in the narrow spaces for the roll-worked tube was not clearly observed in this experiment. Finally, the critical heat flux (CHF) for boiling heat transfer in narrow spaces can be predicted by using a proposed CHF correlation.