Abstract An effort towards understanding the problems associated with stray light related to the Xinglong 2.16-m telescope is presented to estimate the stray light performance of the telescope itself and provide a method for improving stray light suppression. Stray light analysis for the 2.16-m telescope model, which consists of an onion shaped dome, telescope structure, equatorial mount and telescope optics, has been developed in two cases (1) pointing to 60° and (2) pointing to zenith, in both azimuth and elevation directions. The Point Source Normalized Irradiance Transmittance (PSNIT), which is generally used for assessing stray light and is uncorrelated to entrance aperture, is calculated with a series of off-axis angles. It shows that the PSNIT values are less than 10⁻⁷ when off-axis angles are larger than ± 20°. The dominant contributors to stray light (primary and secondary mirror, telescope structure and dome) are identified to guide performance improvement. The analyses indicate that significant benefit can be realized by adding only five vanes inside the bottom portion of the secondary baffle. In the case of pointing to zenith, the PSNIT values will decrease about 40% on average.