Highly nonlinear fibers (HNLFs) are crucial components for supercontinuum (SC) generation with laser solution. However, it is difficult to exactly estimate the structure of produced SC according to material parameters. To give a guideline for choosing and using HNLFs for erbium-fiber-based optical applications, we demonstrate SC generation in five types of HNLFs pumped by 1.57-μm laser solitons. All five fibers output a SC exceeding 1000 nm. Three different SC formation processes were observed in the experiment. By comparing optical parameters of these fibers, we find the zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) of fiber has an important influence on the SC structure and energy distribution for a given pump source.