Background: chronic kidney disease (CKD) is defined as a reduced glomerular filtration rate, increased urinary albumin excretion, or both and it is an increasing public health issue with prevalence estimated to be 8–16% worldwide. Objective: the risk factors for CKD are increasing in the Saudi population. Hence, this descriptive study aimed to assess the files of the adult patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) at King Khalid Hospital, Najran City, Saudi Arabia. It also identified the relationship of these common risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, polycystic kidney disease, certain infections, effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with CRF. Methods: a structured-type interview was conducted with checklist with 50 samples from the patient's record using the non-probability sampling technique. Frequency and percentage distributions were used to describe the incidence and the common risk factors associated with CKD. Results: this study revealed that the most affected group of people with renal failure was from 41 to 50 years age group, which represented about 30% of all samples taken from King Khalid Hospital. Hypertensive patients occurred to be highest in 90% of patients with CRF, while the patients with polycystic kidney disease had low risk of renal failure with 20%. Diabetes mellitus was reported in about 70% of patients. Lifestyle, diet and genetic factors are important factors in developing this disease and they are greatly associated with chronic renal failure.