Understanding structure-property relationships in polycrystalline materials requires high-throughput characterization techniques that generate copious materials data. However, it is difficult to find techniques that are cost-effective without compromising data acquisition speed or microstructural information. In this talk I will present advanced optical microscopy (OM) techniques to perform highthroughput measurements of polycrystalline microstructures. These techniques rely on the collection of a series of optical micrographs taken under controlled illumination conditions. Digital processing and numerical analysis of the OM dataset allow quantifying surface reflectance to measure different microstructural and crystallographic quantities, such as grains, grain boundaries, and crystallographic textures. These new capabilities markedly extend the microstructural information that can be assessed via OM. This work inspires the development of new OM-based technologies that would enable routine, facile, and high-volume microstructure data acquisition.