Nickel deposits of various brightnesses were plated from Watts baths containing several different addition agents. The as‐plated surfaces of the deposits were examined by electron microscopy. All bright deposits had a very fine‐grained structure. However, some fine‐grained deposits showed surface crevices and were therefore not bright. A linear relationship between the fraction of the surface area having a roughness less than 0.15 μ and the logarithm of light reflected as measured with a photocell was found. There is no direct relationship between the degree of preferred orientation and brightness, but the fiber axis is related to the type of structure observed, i.e., platelet, equiaxed crystallite, or spiral‐type, and the addition agents in the plating bath.