The poisoning effect of Zr in aluminum alloys was investigated by analyzing the filtered cakes of aluminum alloy melt taken with the Prefil footprinter through a variety of analytic instruments, SEM/EDX, Auger, and TEM. Experimental results indicated that the morphology and chemical composition of the aluminum alloys were not modified with the addition of Zr, which is to previous belief that Zr poisoning is caused by modification of (Ti1-xZrx)Al3. On the other hand, TiAl3 surroundig TiB2 particles was modified and its lattice parameter was more mismatched by increasing Zr content, leading to less nucleation rate. This is also supported by the observation that the poisoning effect is reduced when Ti is added, resulting in a lower content ratio of Zr to Ti. These results suggest that extra Ti should be added to eliminate the poisoning effect of Zr in aluminum alloys containing Zr.