Biaxial tensile tests on commercially pure titanium were carried out using cruciform specimen geometry and the effect of biaxial tensile stress state on the mechanical properties was discussed. An optimum cruciform specimen geometry obtained using a commercial FE code was subjected to equi-biaxial tensile loading and the load-strain response was captured using data acquisition system. In addition, non-contact digital image correlation technique was employed for the measurement of failure strain. It is observed that the ultimate tensile strength approximately doubled and the failure strain decreased in contrast to uniaxial mechanical properties of commercially pure titanium. Increased effective modulus under biaxial condition is justified based on the generalized Hooke's relation. Strong basal and split-basal texture components of as-received sample resulted in biaxial strengthening effect. Significant textural evolution observed upon biaxial deformation can be attributed to constrained deformation under such stress state. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.