This paper is mainly concerned about the pool boiling heat transfer behavior of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) suspension in pure water and water containing 9.0% by weight of sodium lauryl sulphate anionic surfactant (SDS). Three different concentrations of 0.25%, 0.5% and 1.0% by volume of CNT dispersed with water and water containing 9.0% by weight of sodium lauryl sulphate anionic surfactant (SOS) were prepared and boiling experiments were conducted over a stainless steel flat plate heater of size 30 mm(2) and 0.44 mm thickness. The test results exhibit that the addition of carbon nanotubes increases boiling heat transfer coefficients of the base fluids. At a given heat flux of 500 kW/m(2), the enhancement of heat transfer coefficient was found to be 1.5, 2.6 and 3.0 times of water corresponding to 0.25%, 0.5% and 1.0% concentration of CNT by volume in water, respectively. In water-CNT-surfactant nanofluid, it was found that 0.5% of CNT concentration gives the highest enhancement of 1.7 compared with water. In both water and water-surfactant base fluids, it was observed that the enhancement factor for 0.25% of CNT first increases up to the heat flux of 66 kW/m(2) and then decreases for higher heat fluxes. Further, the overall heat transfer coefficient enhancement in the water-CNT nanofluids is approximately two times higher than that in the water-CNT-surfactant nanofluids. With increasing heat flux, however, the enhancement was concealed due to vigorous bubble generation for both water-CNT and water-CNT-surfactant nanofluids. Foaming was also observed over the liquid-free surface in water-CNT-surfactant nanofluids during the investigation. No fouling over the test-section surface was observed after experimentation. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.