The effect of plastic strain on the surface integrity of mild steel (SS 41) was studied. This paper shows that the recrystallization technique is adequate to evaluate the plastic strain in a machined surface experimentally. The relations between the plastic strain and the machining conditions are quantitatively evaluated by using the recrystallization technique. The obtained results are summarized as follows. 1. The surface integrity of steel is considerably influenced by the amount of surface region deformation produced by changes in cutting conditions. 2. The plastic strain in machined surface produced by changes of the cutting conditions is evaluated by the recyrstallization technique. 3. The plastic strain increases with the increase of depth of cut and the decrease of rake angle. 4. When the cutting force is high and the rake angle is small, the value of maximum true strain reaches to high. 5. The maximum true strain is related to the cutting energy, and the values increase with the increase of the unit shear and total engergy in constant depth with the increase of the energy values.