Nanostructured metals produced by plastic deformation often exhibit characteristic structural features such as elongated morphology, a bimodal misorientation distribution and the presence of interior dislocations. The characterization of these parameters is demonstrated by results of TEM and EBSD analyses of pure Ni processed by high pressure torsion (HPT) and pure Al processed by accumulative roll bonding (ARB). Care needed in selecting sample plane and characterization technique is discussed.