This paper presented an improved channel estimator for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM) systems using joint time delay detection and channel gain estimation. The algorithm well designs an adjustment scheme using the time correlation of time delays to increase the accuracy of the time delay detection. The most attractive advantage is that the complicated matrix calculation is replaced by the search steps to estimate the channel parameters without significantly increasing the complexity of the system. The computer simulation demonstrates that the proposed algorithm can track the time delays adaptively and improve the channel estimation performance. Consequently, the better system performance will be achieved.