Abstract. Role of deformation and orientation is investigated on spin-orbit density dependent part V J of nuclear potential (V N =V P +V J ) obtained within semi-classical Thomas Fermi approach of Skyrme energy density formalism. Calculations are performed for 24−54 Si+ 30 Si reactions, with spherical target 30 Si and projectiles 24−54 Si having prolate and oblate shapes. The quadrupole deformation β 2 is varying within range of 0.023 ≤ β 2 ≤ 0.531 for prolate and -0.242 ≤ β 2 ≤ -0.592 for oblate projectiles. The spin-orbit dependent potential gets influenced significantly with inclusion of deformation and orientation effect. The spin-orbit barrier and position gets significantly influenced by both the sign and magnitude of β 2 -deformation. Si-nuclei with β 2 <0 have higher spin-orbit barrier (compact spin-orbit configuration) in comparison to systems with β 2 >0. The possible role of spin-orbit potential on barrier characteristics such as barrier height, barrier curvature and on the fusion pocket is also probed. In reference to prolate and oblate systems, the angular dependence of spin-orbit potential is further studied on fusion cross-sections.