Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described in which spatial relations for one or more uplink reference signal transmissions, such as sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions, may be configured and a particular spatial relation indicated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). A base station may configure a pool of available spatial relations for use in SRS transmissions, and the MAC-CE may indicate which spatial relation of the set of available spatial relations is to be used. In other cases, the MAC-CE may provide all of the spatial relation information for an associated SRS transmission. The UE, responsive to receiving the MAC-CE, may transmit a SRS to the base station using the indicated spatial relation.