Transient changes in surface morphologies of Ag-Sb electrodeposits have been studied using a laser scanning confocal microscope. Measurements of the potential and current density in Ag-Sb electrodeposition reveal that the stripe pattern of the Ag-Sb electrodeposits emerges at the initial stage according to an experimental condition related to a necessary condition for the Turing instability in reaction-diffusion systems. In addition, pattern instabilities in this system give rise to a variety of patterns, such as hexagonal patterns, stripe patterns with dislocations and a small spiral emitted from a large spiral pattern. Their geometrical characteristics are similar to those of Turing pattern in reaction-diffusion systems, whose result suggests that the patterns observed in this system are a kind of Turing pattern formed on the solid surface. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.