Electron spin resonance results on undoped microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si:H) are summarized for material prepared with various deposition techniques such as RF-PECVD, VHF-PECVD and HW-CVD, covering material composition from highly crystalline to amorphous structure. Paramagnetic defects in µc-Si:H show characteristic behaviour as a function of the material composition, regardless of the preparation process. The lowest spin densities are found in material with residual amorphous volume fraction, while material with high crystalline volume fraction and material prepared at high temperatures has much higher spin densities. The paramagnetic states represent the majority of defects in the material. However, identification and location of the defects corresponding to the paramagnetic resonances remains a challenge.