The corrosion and the adhesion of substrates were investigated as a function of the surface textures of some austenitic and a ferritic-austenitic duplex stainless steel. The lowest corrosion resistance was found on ground surfaces, the highest on pickled surfaces. The relative ranking of the steels as a function of their alloying content was maintained. The lowest adhesion was found on an electropolished surface, only slightly better than on a pickled surface. The worst adhesion behavior was found on ground specimen. It is assumed that both effects may be attributed to the differences in the free surface energy.