Although gneiss is not defined by its composition, most specimens have bands of feldspar and quartz grains in an interlocking texture. These bands are usually light in color and alternate with bands of darker-colored minerals with platy or elongate habits. The dark minerals sometimes exhibit an orientation determined by the pressures of metamorphism.

Some specimens of gneiss contain distinctive minerals characteristic of the metamorphic environment. These minerals might include biotite, cordierite, sillimanite, kyanite, staurolite, andalusite, and garnet. Gneiss is sometimes named for these minerals, examples of which include “garnet gneiss” and “biotite gneiss.”