By using three types of MgB 2 superconductors, such as c-axis-oriented single-crystal films, c-axis-oriented columnar-structure films and films without c-axis orientation perpendicular to the substrate surface, we have investigated the intrinsic pinning effect in MgB 2 superconductors. The strong field performance of J c was observed by turning the orientation of grains from the c axis to the a axis. No c-axis-oriented MgB 2 films showed a noticeable increase of J c at high fields compared with c-axis-oriented films, whether they had columnar structures or not. Our results clearly show that MgB 2 has strong intrinsic pinning caused by the large anisotropy of the superconducting energy gap in the boron layers like high-T c cuprate superconductors with a layered structure.