An algorithm for retrieving polluted coastal aerosol optical properties based on moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) data is proposed. New aerosol modes are created based on the characteristics of coastal aerosols; the limitation of computing apparent reflectance in MODIS algorithm is removed; and by selecting infrared spectroscopy bands, water leaving radiance from case II water is reduced. Aerosol robotic network (AERONET) sites data are used to test the proposed algorithm, and the results show that more than two-thirds retrievals lie within the expected error bars. The retrieval meets the requirements of the ocean retrieval accuracy.