The skin colors of humans vary considerably based on which race they belong to and where they live. First, a seven layer neonatal skin model was established herein according to the skin structure and optical characteristics. Subsequently, the Monte Carlo method was used to simulate the propagation of light under different skin color conditions by varying the volume fraction of epidermal melanin. Simulation results show that the difference in the neonatal skin color greatly affects the propagation characteristics of light through the skin. This difference interferes with the key wavelength of noninvasive detection of neonatal jaundice, thus affecting the accuracy of such detection.