In this work, a commercially pure Zr sheet with a typical bimodal basal texture was annealed in an α + β region and thensubjected to Different coolings (in water and furnace). Microstructures and textures of both the as-received and the heat-treatedspecimens were investigated by electron channeling contrast imaging and electron backscatter diff raction techniques. Resultsshow that a duplex microstructure consisting of untransformed bulk α grains and twinned martensitic plates is produced inthe water-cooled specimen, which possesses a weakened texture compared to the initial one. For the specimen cooled in furnace,however, a uniform microstructure fully comprised of coarser equiaxed grains with a strengthened texture is obtained. Analyses reveal that the rapid cooling in water could suppress variant selection behaviors during β → α transformation andallow α plates with scattered orientations to be nucleated inside β phases, contributing to the weakened texture. In contrast,during slow cooling in furnace, β boundaries would act as preferred nucleation sites of α embryos, resulting in a strong variantselection that accounts for the intensifi ed texture.