Inconel 617B is a nickel-base superalloy used for superheater tubes and heater pipes of ultra-supercritical power plants. As the alloy contains many alloy elements, which results in the difficulties in the manufacture process with controlled microstructure, the method of microstructure control during manufacture is described in this paper. Homogenisation, hot extrusion and cold rolling are key parts in the manufacture process. In order to determine the best manufacture parameters, homogenisation tests, annealing and hot compression simulation tests are introduced in the process design. The effects of different manufacture parameters on microstructure are discussed here. The homogenisation treatment is determined as 1180°C for 45–50 h. The recommended extrusion ratio is lower than 4 with the preheating temperature in the range of 1150–1200°C and extrusion speed lower than 125 mm s–1 based on the finite element simulation results. The annealing treatment should be carried out at 1160–1190°C for 1 h ...