An additive is not exclusively retardant or promoter for a crystallization system. The kinetic studies of calcium sulfate dihydrate (CSD) crystal growth demonstrated that borax played dual roles in the reaction, which accelerated CSD formations at the low concentration levels but inhibited the crystal growth at the high ones. In situ atomic force microscopy studies revealed that borax modulated the CSD crystallization via two different pathways: promoted the secondary nucleation to increase the step density on the growing crystal faces but simultaneously retarded the spread of these growth steps by the Langmuir adsorption. These two contradictory factors were incorporated in the crystallization, and their balance was regulated by the borax concentration. Both the macroscopic and microscopic experimental data nicely displayed the crystallization model of birth and spread that was able to account for the behaviors of borax in CSD formations.