The effect of small amounts of phosphorous on the recrystallization of cold-rolled (89-95.7%) copper strips was studied. It was found that phosphorous, which was mainly in solid solution with copper, greatly raised the recrystallization temperature, increased the activation energy of recrystallization and also changed the recrystallization texture by annihilating the formation of cubic texture. Phosphorous, which existed mostly in the oxidized form, however, showed no pronounced effect on the recrystallization behaviour of cold-rolled copper strips.The recrystallization textures of copper strips under different rolling and annealing conditions, resembled the original deformation textures and/or kept a geometric relationship which may be described as a rotation of 20-45° about a common axis.Results obtained from metallographic and X-ray diffraction studies indicated that the development of the recrystallization texture may be suggested as a process of "re-crystallization in situ" and a process of selective growth.