The effect of prior strain on the microstructure and texture evolution was investigated in a near pearlitic steel. For this purpose, the steel was 50%, 80%, and 95% cold-rolled and annealed at 973 K. The cold-rolled microstructure showed alignment of the pearlitic colonies, the formation of the irregularly bent and kink lamellae, fine deformed lamellae, and deformation induced fragmentation and redistribution of cementite. The deformation texture displayed the typical RD (//〈110〉) and ND (//〈111〉) fibers. Discontinuous recrystallization in the primary ferrite was observed in 50% and 80% cold-rolled materials during annealing, whereas recovery dominated the softening process in the 95% cold-rolled material due to the inhibition of discontinuous recrystallization by the fine dispersion of fragmented cementite particles. The texture development amply corroborated the characteristic softening processes in the different annealed materials. The present results demonstrated that prior strain could significantly impact the microstructure and texture in pearlitic steels. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.