In most applications, the alloys used usually consists of more than one phases. The proportion of these other phases in the microstructure could vary from as low as ~ 1% to as high as ~ 50% depending on the alloy being considered. The second phase could be in the form of dispersed hard particles in ductile matrix, in the form of islands of hard phase in ductile phase or with two ductile phases co-existing. In the present work, duplex stainless steels (DSSs) and dual-phase (DP) steels are considered in which microstructure predominantly consists of two primary phases. In DSSs, the two phases of interest are austenite and ferrite. The proportion of austenite and ferrite varies in the range 40–50% each. The phase balance in these types of steels/alloys is largely dependent on their prior thermomechanical processing history. In DP steels, the two phases of interest are ferrite and martensite. The proportion of martensite varies from 5 to 40%. EBSD is a very effective tool to study strain partitioning, deformation texture developments, and recrystallization phenomenon, particularly in two-phase materials. In DSSs, Plastic deformation causes more strain (as measured by IQ, KAM, and shear banding tendency) to be partitioned in austenite than ferrite. Austenite in standard and super DSSs deform by slipping, twinning, and shear banding, followed by formation of SIM. Lean DSSs, on the other hand, preferentially form SIM. The amount of SIM can be significantly higher in lean DSSs than standard and super DSSs for same level of deformation due to lower stability of austenite. The development of deformation texture is strongly dependent on the alloy chemistry and strain path. For unidirectional cold rolling and tensile deformation, standard and super DSSs form strong partial α-fiber in ferrite and strong brass-type texture in austenite. During unidirectional rolling, lean DSSs form strong α- and γ-fibers in ferrite and strong brass-type texture in austenite. For multi-step cross cold rolling, DSSs form a very strong rotated cube in ferrite and ND rotated brass in austenite. After recrystallization, textures in all DSSs weakens. Ferrite forms a weak rotated cube texture and austenite retains most of deformation texture components. In all the DP steels, ferrite–martensite interfaces had more strain accumulations and more orientation gradients in the ferrite grains adjacent to martensite islands. Ferrite grains away from the martensite islands had near zero orientation gradients. IQ maps can be used to partition the martensite islands from the ferrite grains. Martensite, due to high dislocation density and more strain localizations results in very low IQ, which can be effectively used to identify and quantify it. Plastic deformation (tensile tests or cold rolling) causes more orientation gradients in ferrite initially and after large deformation, martensite, and ferrite becomes indistinguishable from each other due to work hardening in ferrite. Ferrite in DP steels develop α- and γ-fibers after cold rolling or tensile deformation. α-fiber is stronger than the γ-fiber in most cases. Recrystallization after cold rolling leads to strengthening of the γ-fiber slightly.