The structural features of polyacrylonitrile and pitch-based carbon fibers were analyzed from a comprehensive point of view by X-ray measurements and related techniques. The results indicated that the undulating graphite ribbon with embedded microvoid was the main structural unit for graphitic fibers. The void’s parameters for these fibers could be obtained directly by small-angle X-ray scattering following the classic method deduced based on the typical two-phase system (i.e., Porod’s law, Guinier’s law and Debye’s law). The non-graphitic fibers, however, were composed of two-dimensional turbostratic crystallites in the aggregation of microfibril and thus had a quasi two-phase structure (microfibril, interfibrillar amorphous structure and microvoid embedded within the microfibril). The extended Debye or Beaucage model in this case should be applied in order to obtain the structural parameters. It also revealed that the quasi two-phase system would complete its transformation to two-phase system during high-temperature graphitization. Therefore, the degree of graphitization was speculated to be the essential indicator distinguishing graphitic fibers from non-graphitic ones and would be helpful in understanding the transformation of structural features during the graphitization of carbon fibers.