A set in $\mathbb R^d$ is called almost-equidistant if for any three distinct points in the set, some two are at unit distance apart. First, we give a short proof of the result of Bezdek and Lángi claiming that an almost-equidistant set lying on a $(d-1)$-dimensional sphere of radius $r$, where $r<1/\sqrt{2}$, has at most $2d+2$ points. Second, we prove that an almost-equidistant set $V$ in $\mathbb R^d$ has $O(d)$ points in two cases: if the diameter of $V$ is at most $1$ or if $V$ is a subset of a $d$-dimensional ball of radius at most $1/\sqrt{2}+cd^{-2/3}$, where $c<1/2$. Also, we present a new proof of the result of Kupavskii, Mustafa and Swanepoel arXiv:1708.01590 that an almost-equidistant set in $\mathbb R^d$ has $O(d^{4/3})$ elements.