The combined effect of sulfur (S) and acid soluble aluminum (Als) content on precipitates and microstructures in grainoriented silicon steel were investigated. The results show that there are dominant AlN and a little amount of MnS-AlN composite in annealed hot-rolled band, and the amount of precipitates increases distinctly with increasing Als content, while S content plays a negligible role. The inhibitors that precipitate during hot band annealing can restrain the grain growth during hot band annealing and primary annealing, and the smaller grains of annealed hot-rolled band can contribute to the formation of {111} <112> texture during primary annealing. Lower S content is conducive to the formation of {111} <112> texture during primary annealing by promoting the formation of Goss texture during hot rolling.