Spurious maxima are frequently observed in pole figures determined by x‐ray diffraction techniques employing the Geiger‐counter spectrogoniometer. Their origin must be fully understood in order to avoid misleading interpretations of the pole‐figure data. By making film patterns and by the balanced filter technique—in each case with the specimen oriented for the appearance of one of the spurious peaks—these spurious maxima can be identified as diffraction of a component from the white radiation by a strongly diffracting (hkl) plane, and at a 2&thgr; angle corresponding toKadiffraction from the (hkl) plane under investigation. Spurious (110) and (112) peaks of this type may be observed in the (200) pole figure of iron and its alloys; spurious (111) and (220) peaks may appear in the (200) pole figure of face‐centered‐cubic metals such as nickel. These cannot be completely suppressed by filtering the Mo radiation used or by modifying the operating conditions such as tube voltage, spectrometer resolution, or counter type. Spurious (101¯1) peaks may appear in the (0002) pole figure of titanium and zirconium as the result of CuKadiffraction, and they can be avoided by increasing the resolution of the slit system.