Solar energy utilization is vital in order to achieve the sustainability and reduce the utilization of conventional energy sources. The use of nanofluids in concentrating solar collectors is a promising solution in order to achieve high performance. This paper examines the use of various nanofluids as working fluids in a solar dish collector with smooth and corrugated absorber tube. The use of Al2O3, Cu, CuO and TiO2 dispersed on thermal oil and water is presented in this work. The examined concentrations of these nanoparticles are up to 5% in this study. The solar collector is investigated exergetically in order to evaluate together the useful thermal output and pressure losses. The analysis is performed with a developed 1-D thermal model and experimental results are used for the model validation for operation with water. According to the final results, the use of oil-based nanofluids leads to higher exergetic efficiency, while the use of water-based nanofluids leads to higher thermal performance. Moreover, the use of Cu nanoparticle is the most suitable exergetically among the examined cases. Generally, the exergetic efficiency of the examined collector is maximized for Cu-oil based nanofluid with the corrugated absorber and it is about 12.29%. •A spiral cavity receiver was experimentally investigated.•A spiral cavity receiver was modeled with smooth and corrugated absorber tube.•A spiral cavity receiver was numerically modeled using different nanofluids.•Cu, CuO, TiO2 and Al2O3 are the considered nanoparticles inside the water and oil.•The exergy analysis was investigated.