Abstract: In this paper, we present a new algorithm to remove haze from a single image. The proposed algorithm extracts transmission iteratively under the assumption that large-scale chromaticity variations are due to transmission while small-scale luminance variations are due to scene albedo. A nonlinear edge-preserving filter is introduced to incrementally refine subtle transmission map while still keeping sharp transmission map distinct. The algorithm is verified by both synthetic images and real-scene photographs. The results demonstrate that our method can produce transmission maps without being affected by the local albedo variations and, furthermore, recover haze-free images. On top of haze removal, several applications of the transmission map including refocusing and relighting are also implemented.