In this paper, we report, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of the induction of long-period and Bragg gratings on surface-core optical fibers. Surface-core fibers described herein were fabricated from commercial silica tubes and germanium-doped silica rods by employing a very simple procedure. Being the core on the fiber surface, it can be sensitive to refractive index variations in the environment in which the fiber is immersed. Thus, results concerning the sensitivity of these gratings to environmental refractive index variations are presented. Besides, simulation data are presented for comparison to the experimental behavior and for projecting future steps in this research.