Abstract: The effect of initial microstructure on the final microstructural characteristics and the mechanical properties was investigated for low silicon TRIP steel containing phosphorus and vanadium after hot rolling, cold rolling and continuous annealing. The two different microstructures were obtained by different hot rolling processes, i. e., F+P steel and F+B steel. Compared with F+P steel, the volume fractions of bainite and retained austenite in F+B steel are higher for the same cold rolling and continuous annealing process; the retained austenite is smaller in size and more dispersive in distribution, and the yield strength and the tensile strength are higher, but the elongation, the n value and the r value are slightly lower. The tensile strength reaches up to 980 MPa, and the strength-ductility balance is 21952 MPa·% for F+B steel.