The sound speed and parameters of nonlinearity B/A, C/A in a fluid are expressed in terms of coefficients in the Taylor series expansion of an excess internal energy, in powers of excess pressure and density. That allows to conclude about features of the sound propagation in fluids, the internal energy of which is known as a function of pressure and density. The sound speed and parameters of nonlinearity in the mixture consisting of boiling water and its vapor under different temperatures, are evaluated as functions of mass concentration of the vapor. The relations analogous to that in the Riemann wave in an ideal gas are obtained in a fluid obeying an arbitrary equation of state. An example concerns the van der Waals gases. An excess pressure in the reflected wave, which appears when standard or nonlinear absorption in a fluid takes place, is evaluated in an arbitrary fluid.