Surface properties are essential for many engineering material ́s design issues, such as fatigue and corrosion performances. Austenitic stainless steels used in high-temperature applications, as for instance components in biomass-fired power plants, need sufficient corrosion resistance. At temperatures above 600 °C and in water vapor environment, Cr-vaporization will create Cr-depletion, causing a local change in chemical composition. This local change in chemical composition leads to phase transformation in some austenitic stainless steels. This paper reports the surface properties regarding the local phase transformation during thermal cycling in water vapor environment. Three commercial austenitic stainless steels are investigated, AISI 304, AISI 316L and Sandvik SanicroTM 28. The thermal cycling was performed up to 650 °C in a 15 mol.% water vapor environment. AISI 304 shows local surface phase transformation related to martensitic transformation due to locally changed chemical composition and increase in the martensitic transformation temperature (M_s). However, the other two austenitic stainless steels don’t show this martensitic transformation. The phase transformation and oxidation is discussed using microstructural investigations methods such as x-ray diffraction (XRD), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).