Optical nanofibers (ONFs) provide a rich platform for exploring atomic and optical phenomena even when they support only a single spatial mode. Nanofibers supporting higher-order modes (HOMs) provide additional degrees of freedom to enable complex evanescent field profiles for interaction with the surrounding medium, but local control of these profiles requires nondestructive evaluation of the propagating fields. Here, we use Rayleigh scattering for rapid measurement of the propagation of light in few-mode ONFs. Imaging the Rayleigh scattered light provides direct visualization of the spatial evolution of propagating fields throughout the entire fiber, including the transition from core-cladding guidance to cladding-air guidance. We resolve the interference between HOMs to determine local beat lengths and modal content along the fiber, and show that the modal superposition in the waist can be systematically controlled by adjusting the input superposition. With this diagnostic we can measure variations in the radius of the fiber waist to below 3 nm in situ using purely optical means. This nondestructive technique also provides useful insight into light propagation in ONFs. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America