Preferred orientation in rolled electrical steels has been determined using single diffraction of neutrons from the University of Maryland pool-type nuclear reactor (DMR) operating at 10 KW thermal . X-rays are used extensively to determine preferred orientations in metallic wires and rolled sheets, but X-rays suffer the disadvantage of high absorption and cannot be used effectively on thick samples without chemical or mechanical treatment which ultimately results in the destruction of the samples. The use of reactor neutrons for this purpose is believed to offer particular advantages such as the use of thicker samples and wider beams. To this end, neutrons from the UMR were scattered directly from metallic sheet samples to obtain diffraction patterns from which preferred orientations of the crystallographic axes could be deduced. The neutron diffraction data were obtained in the form of : 1) Maxwellian curves; and 2) rocking curves. To obtain the first type of curve, the sample and neutron detector were rotated at a 1-to-2 angular ratio, respectively, and the diffraction pattern was essentially the Maxwellian neutron energy distribution. From the maximum of the Maxwellian curve, the crystallographic plane mainly responsible for the reflection was calculated; from this, the main orientation was deduced. For the second type of curve, the sample was rocked back and forth, with the neutron detector fixed, and the resulting pattern was used to infer the variation of a given crystallographic direction about its main orientation. The results of this study, particularly on grain-oriented and cube-textured silicon-iron (Si-Fe) alloy sheets demonstrate that single diffraction techniques can be used to determine preferred orientation in highly oriented materials. The results on Si-Fe sheets described as non-oriented indicate the possibility that these techniques may be applicable to ordinary rolled metallic sheets, which are not highly oriented.