The purpose of this paper is to implement a proposed advanced exp(−φ(ξ))-expansion method to find new electrostatic potential functions that describe the nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves in an ideal plasma with degenerate electrons. The KdV equation is obtained for investigating the ion-acoustic waves in such plasmas by using the reductive perturbation method. The exact traveling wave solutions are established for the KdV equation in the form of hyperbolic, trigonometric, exponential, and rational functions with some free parameters. The influence of the electrostatic nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves has been investigated by considering only hyperbolic function solutions of this equation and different values of the ion to Fermi electrons temperature ratio. The results reveal that the proposed expansion method is a standard, effective, and easily applicable mathematical tool with the aid of computer algebra for solving nonlinear evolution equations arising in plasma physics. The obtained new solutions can be helpful in a proper understanding of the features of small but finite amplitude localized electrostatic ion-acoustic solitary waves for astrophysical issues.