diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 38d1f8f61..256b13e19 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3221,6 +3221,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "hex-literal",
  "reth-rlp",
  "reth-rlp-derive",
+ "smol_str",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3846,6 +3847,12 @@ version = "1.10.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a507befe795404456341dfab10cef66ead4c041f62b8b11bbb92bffe5d0953e0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "smol_str"
+version = "0.1.23"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7475118a28b7e3a2e157ce0131ba8c5526ea96e90ee601d9f6bb2e286a35ab44"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "socket2"
 version = "0.4.7"
diff --git a/crates/common/rlp/Cargo.toml b/crates/common/rlp/Cargo.toml
index 5f3d46869..a14282d28 100644
--- a/crates/common/rlp/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/common/rlp/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ arrayvec = { version = "0.7", default-features = false }
 auto_impl = "1"
 bytes = { version = "1", default-features = false }
 ethnum = { version = "1", default-features = false, optional = true }
+smol_str = { version = "0.1", default-features = false, optional = true }
 ethereum-types = { version = "0.13", features = ["codec"], optional = true }
 reth-rlp-derive = { version = "0.1", path = "../rlp-derive", optional = true }
 
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ reth-rlp-test = { path = ".", package = "reth-rlp", features = [
     "std",
     "ethnum",
     "ethereum-types",
+    "smol_str"
 ] }
 criterion = "0.4.0"
 hex-literal = "0.3"
diff --git a/crates/common/rlp/src/decode.rs b/crates/common/rlp/src/decode.rs
index 068ce6a54..0df96aebf 100644
--- a/crates/common/rlp/src/decode.rs
+++ b/crates/common/rlp/src/decode.rs
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ impl core::fmt::Display for DecodeError {
 }
 
 impl Header {
+    /// Returns the decoded header.
+    ///
+    /// Returns an error if the given `buf`'s len is less than the expected payload.
     pub fn decode(buf: &mut &[u8]) -> Result<Self, DecodeError> {
         if !buf.has_remaining() {
             return Err(DecodeError::InputTooShort)
@@ -352,21 +355,39 @@ where
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "smol_str")]
+impl Decodable for smol_str::SmolStr {
+    fn decode(from: &mut &[u8]) -> Result<Self, DecodeError> {
+        let h = Header::decode(from)?;
+        if h.list {
+            return Err(DecodeError::UnexpectedList)
+        }
+        let data = &from[..h.payload_length];
+        let s = match core::str::from_utf8(data) {
+            Ok(s) => Ok(smol_str::SmolStr::from(s)),
+            Err(_) => Err(DecodeError::Custom("invalid string")),
+        };
+        from.advance(h.payload_length);
+        s
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     extern crate alloc;
 
     use super::*;
+    use crate::Encodable;
     use alloc::vec;
     use core::fmt::Debug;
     use ethereum_types::{U128, U256, U512, U64};
     use ethnum::AsU256;
     use hex_literal::hex;
 
-    fn check_decode<T, IT>(fixtures: IT)
+    fn check_decode<'a, T, IT>(fixtures: IT)
     where
         T: Decodable + PartialEq + Debug,
-        IT: IntoIterator<Item = (Result<T, DecodeError>, &'static [u8])>,
+        IT: IntoIterator<Item = (Result<T, DecodeError>, &'a [u8])>,
     {
         for (expected, mut input) in fixtures {
             assert_eq!(T::decode(&mut input), expected);
@@ -557,4 +578,16 @@ mod tests {
             (Ok(vec![0xBBCCB5_u64, 0xFFC0B5_u64]), &hex!("C883BBCCB583FFC0B5")[..]),
         ])
     }
+
+    #[cfg(feature = "smol_str")]
+    #[test]
+    fn rlp_smol_str() {
+        use smol_str::SmolStr;
+        let mut b = BytesMut::new();
+        "test smol str".to_string().encode(&mut b);
+        check_decode::<SmolStr, _>(vec![
+            (Ok(SmolStr::new("test smol str")), b.as_ref()),
+            (Err(DecodeError::UnexpectedList), &hex!("C0")[..]),
+        ])
+    }
 }
diff --git a/crates/common/rlp/src/encode.rs b/crates/common/rlp/src/encode.rs
index eea18a567..a13feb00f 100644
--- a/crates/common/rlp/src/encode.rs
+++ b/crates/common/rlp/src/encode.rs
@@ -175,6 +175,16 @@ impl Encodable for bool {
 
 impl_max_encoded_len!(bool, { <u8 as MaxEncodedLenAssoc>::LEN });
 
+#[cfg(feature = "smol_str")]
+impl Encodable for smol_str::SmolStr {
+    fn encode(&self, out: &mut dyn BufMut) {
+        self.as_bytes().encode(out);
+    }
+    fn length(&self) -> usize {
+        self.as_bytes().length()
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(feature = "ethnum")]
 mod ethnum_support {
     use super::*;
@@ -506,4 +516,17 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(encoded_list::<u64>(&[]), &hex!("c0")[..]);
         assert_eq!(encoded_list(&[0xFFCCB5_u64, 0xFFC0B5_u64]), &hex!("c883ffccb583ffc0b5")[..]);
     }
+
+    #[cfg(feature = "smol_str")]
+    #[test]
+    fn rlp_smol_str() {
+        use smol_str::SmolStr;
+        assert_eq!(encoded(SmolStr::new(""))[..], hex!("80")[..]);
+        let mut b = BytesMut::new();
+        "test smol str".to_string().encode(&mut b);
+        assert_eq!(&encoded(SmolStr::new("test smol str"))[..], b.as_ref());
+        let mut b = BytesMut::new();
+        "abcdefgh".to_string().encode(&mut b);
+        assert_eq!(&encoded(SmolStr::new("abcdefgh"))[..], b.as_ref());
+    }
 }