The texture of the inner layer, middle layer and outer layer of a cold rolled TA18 alloy tube were investigated and analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction technique. Correspondingly, contractile strain ratio (CSR), which can relate the texture to mechanical property anisotropy of a tube, was also tested. The experimental results show that texture intensity through the tube wall exist big gradient on the tube, directed by the peak value of orientation density of the orientation distribution function(ODF), and the variation gradient is over 17%, especially, texture types are different greatly among the layers. Measuring the texture of the middle layer by the method of thinning and flattening ,we discovered that although texture intensity was high for this tube,its CSR is only 0.95,less than the use standard of 1.3. The reason is due to that the texture is not uniform along the tube wall, there exists favorable texture in radial direction and negative texture in tangential direction, and strong negative texture leads to deterioration of the mechanical property. Confirming the distribution of texture along the tube wall can provide reference for forecasting and improving mechanical properties of the tube, and help to optimize the production process.