Different calcinations techniques are adopted to investigate influences of the calcinations modes on the synthesis of BaTiO3 powders. Two step calcinations (TSC), in which the samples are first heated to a higher temperature (T1) and then cooled quickly down to a low temperature (72) for staying, can retard the grain growth and accelerates the phase transformation effectively. Using BaO, TiO2 and B2O3 oxides as precursors, the spherical BaTiO3 powders with a particle size of 15-20 nm can be achieved based on TSC technique. A detailed investigation upon the possible particle growth mechanism of TSC is also carried out in this paper. The optimized T1 can accelerate the phase transition rate while the optimized T2 can refrain the particle growth depending upon the transition of the particle growth mechanism. (C) 2013 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.