The influence of pre-annealing on thermal stability of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy was reported by em-ploying the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) tech-niques. It has been observed that the supercooled liquid region decreases with increasing the annealing time under isothe-mal conditions, indicating that the thermal stability of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy decreases gradually. HRTEM ob-servations reveal that there exist some ordered atomic clusters in the amorphous matrix at the relaxation stage. These or-dered atomic clusters can be regarded as precursors for the precipitation of the crystalline phases in the subsequent crystal-lization process. The reasons resulting in the decrease in thermal stability of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy with anneal-ing time are discussed through the Gaussian decomposition for the radial distribution function of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy. The influence of pre-annealing on thermal stability of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy was reported by em-ploying the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) tech-niques. It has been observed that the supercooled liquid region decreases with increasing the annealing time under isothe-mal conditions, indicating that the thermal stability of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy has decreased gradually. HRTEM ob-servations reveal that there exist some ordered atomic clusters in the amorphous matrix at the relaxation stage. These or-dered The results resulting in the decrease in thermal stability of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy with anneal-ing time are discussed through the Gaussian decomposition for the radial distribution function of the amorphous Zr70Cu20Ni10 alloy.