In order to find metric spaces X for which the algebra Lip^*(X) of bounded Lipschitz functions on X determines the Lipschitz structure of X, we introduce the class of small-determined spaces. We show that this class includes precompact and quasi-convex metric spaces. We obtain several metric characterizations of this property, as well as some other characterizations given in terms of the uniform approximation and the extension of uniformly continuous functions. In particular we show that X is small-determined if and only if every uniformly continuous real function on X can be uniformly approximated by Lipschitz functions.