Abstract: Trace amounts of rare earth elements Ce (0.0035 wt.%) and La (0.0033 wt.%) were separately added to non-oriented silicon steels to prepare three test steels without rare earth, with Ce, and with La, respectively, and the influences of rare earth on inclusions, magnetic domains, and texture were investigated. The results showed that after rare earth addition, Al₂O₃ and MnS were modified into rare earth aluminates and rare earth oxysulfides. The total pinning force of inclusions in the samples increased from 62.20 (with no rare earth addition) to 69.99 (with Ce addition) and 66.40 Pa (with La addition), and the average grain size decreased from 50.3 (with no rare earth addition) to 34.3 (with Ce addition) and 39.6 lm (with La addition). The magnetic force microscopy results demonstrated that the phase peak values at grain boundaries of the three samples with no rare earth addition, Ce addition, and La addition were 750, 400, and 250 mdeg, respectively, and that the phase amplitudes around the Al₂O₃, CeAlO₃, and LaAlO₃ inclusions were 700, 700, and 500 mdeg, respectively. The steel with La addition had the crossover energy barrier for the lowest magnetization domain wall, facilitating the movement of magnetic domain walls and resulting in the lowest iron loss. From the texture characterization results, the favorable 001//ND texture intensity increased from 2.28 for the sample with no rare earth addition to 5.66 (with Ce addition) and 5.7 (with La addition), respectively, and the c-fiber texture intensity decreased from 15.97 to 13.21 and 11.41, respectively. The steel with La addition had higher initial permeability and higher saturation permeability than the other two steels and was more likely to reach saturation. The iron loss and magnetic flux density of the steel with the addition of an appropriate amount of La could be simultaneously improved.