Abstract. Aerosol phase function represents the angular scattering property of aerosols, which is crucial for understanding the climate effects of aerosols that have been identified as one of the largest uncertainties in the evaluation of radiative forcing. So far, there is a lack of instruments with which to measure the aerosol phase function directly and accurately in laboratory studies and in situ measurements. A portable instrument with high angular range and resolution has been developed for the measurement of the phase function of ambient aerosols in this study. The charge-coupled device-laser aerosol detective system (CCD-LADS) measures the aerosol phase function both across a relatively wide angular range of 10–170° and at a high resolution of 0.1°. The system includes a continuous laser, two charge-coupled device cameras and the corresponding fisheye lenses. The CCD-LADS was validated by both a laboratory study and a field measurement. The comparison between the aerosol phase function retrieved from CCD-LADS and Mie-scattering model shows good agreement. Compared with the TSI polar nephelometer, CCD-LADS has the advantages of wider detection range and better stability.