The growth and collapse of a cavitation bubble near a rigid boundary in liquids with different surface tensions was investigated by two sensitive fiber-optic sensors based on optical beam deflection. The experimental results show that the surface-tension forces slow down bubble growth progress, but speed up bubble collapse process. The influence of the surface tension on bubble expansion is stronger than that on collapse. Increasing surface-tension decreases the maximum and the minimum bubble radii and shortens the oscillation times. Furthermore, the larger the surface tension is, the stronger impact of the high pressure liquid jet will be. That is to say, cavitation erosion is reduced as decreasing the surface tension. These results help to better understand the cavitation erosion and optimize laser parameters in the fields of laser ophthalmology and underwater laser processing.