Development of cube texture after heavy cold deformation and annealing has been studied in powder metallurgically prepared pure Ni, Ni-5at.%Mo and Ni-5at.%W alloys for use as substrates for coated superconductor applications. Two grades of Ni powder with different purities have been used to prepare the initial materials. Addition of W and Mo is found to be beneficial in increasing the volume fraction of the cube component, irrespective of the purity of the Ni powder used. W particularly increases the volume fraction of the cube component in Ni by decreasing the volume fraction of the RD (rolling direction)-rotated cube grains. Studies on partially recrystallized samples indicate that in contrast to pure Ni, in Ni-5at.%W alloy the recrystallized grains are mostly cube oriented right from the beginning of recrystallization. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.