Abstract. The polarized phase function of atmospheric aerosols has been investigated for the atmosphere of Zanjan, a city in northwest Iran. To do this, aerosol optical depth, Ångström exponent, single-scattering albedo, and polarized phase function have been retrieved from the measurements of a Cimel CE 318-2 polarized sun-photometer from February 2010 to December 2012. The results show that the maximum value of aerosol polarized phase function as well as the polarized phase function retrieved for a specific scattering angle (i.e., 60°) are strongly correlated (R = 0.95 and 0.95, respectively) with the Ångström exponent. The latter has a meaningful variation with respect to the changes in the complex refractive index of the atmospheric aerosols. Furthermore the polarized phase function shows a moderate negative correlation with respect to the atmospheric aerosol optical depth and single-scattering albedo (R = −0.76 and −0.33, respectively). Therefore the polarized phase function can be regarded as a key parameter to characterize the atmospheric particles of the region – a populated city in the semi-arid area and surrounded by some dust sources of the Earth's dust belt.