How to use the measurement from the visible channel of Chinese Fengyun-2C geostationary satellite to retrieve aerosol optical depth (AOD) is discussed. By calculating mean surface reflectance at the same local time of each day in one month, the randomicity of the estimated surface reflectance can be reduced. The influence of different values of AOD assumed in the cleanest days on the quality of final AOD product is analyzed. In addition, the data in May 2008 was used to test the proposed algorithm and the results were compared with the AOD product from six AERONET sites in East Asian and MODIS AOD product respectively. Last, the error sources were analyzed in the retrieval of AOD from FY2C satellite, and the corresponding possible schemes to decrease the error influence and improve the quality of FY2C AOD product were investigated. The comparison indicates that in East Asian the AOD product can display the pattern of aerosol distribution, but overestimates the values of AOD in southwest of China and low latitude areas, and underestimates the values of AOD in east of China.