The present work studies the effects of solid solution Gd on the texture and lattice strain evolution of an extruded Mg15Gd alloy under uniaxial compression. In situ experiments were carried out using high energy X-ray diffraction on samples of the investigated materials with three different orientations. The original textures of the pure Mg and the Mg15Gd alloy exhibit basal planes that are preferentially parallel and perpendicular to the extrusion direction (ED), respectively. The c/a ratio of the Mg15Gd alloy decreases with increasing Gd content in the solid solution, leading to a different deformation behavior compared with pure Mg under the compressive load. The addition of Gd enhances the slip and twinning modes. However, prismatic slip is activated earlier in the Mg15Gd alloy due to the lower c/a ratio.