Abstract: The atmospheric particulate matter is the main pollutant in the atmosphere at present. Aerosol optical depth data and satellite remote sensing retrieval products can make up the surface observation stations’ inadequate space coverage. In this study, we analyze the 2013 aerosol optical depth product of Terra and Aqua MODIS sensor of the16 cities in Yangtze River Delta, correct the vertical and humidity deviations, and convert those data to ground layer’s aerosol extinction coefficient which can reflect region’s air pollution. Through the geographical detector’s method, we quantify the main risk factors of air pollution and the impact strength of each factor in the Yangtze River Delta. These risk factors include GDP, population, gradient, land cover types, annual average temperature, annual average precipitation and annual average wind speed. The result shows that: the air pollutions of the studied area were lower in the north and higher in the south. The meteorological factors significantly affected the spatial distribution of air pollutions, and the effect of precipitation is the highest one, each risk factor exhibited a clearly interactive influence on the spatial distribution of air pollutions.