The influence of chromium and phosphorus addition on the microstructure and on texture development was studied during the early stages of the annealing of warm rolled, low carbon steels. The addition of alloying elements led to an increase in the volume fraction of grains containing both shear bands and microbands. Moreover, the alloyed steels displayed lower stored energies and dislocation densities compared with an unalloyed low carbon steel. Two types of carbides were present after warm rolling in the steels containing the alloying additions: (i) coarse carbides; and (ii) fine strain-induced particles. These microstructural differences affected the development of texture during annealing.