Several atmospheric correction algorithms for turbid waters have been developed based on an assumption of zero reflection in short-wave infrared (SWIR) bands. However, for the Landsat8-Operational Land Imager (OLI), some water reflections are so strong in the 1609 nm band that they cannot be ignored. In this study, we developed a novel atmospheric correction algorithm based on a zero assumption for the short-wave infrared band (ACZI). The ACZI algorithm uses the black pixel index (BPI) and the floating algae index (FAI) to distinguish black pixels, which are used to estimate the aerosol scattering of non-black pixels based on the assumption of spatial homogeneity of aerosol types. In Lake Taihu, compared with the SeaDAS (SeaWiFS Data Analysis System) -SWIR algorithm, the ACZI algorithm achieved better precision for visible bands MAPE (the mean absolute percentage error), < 30%, RMSE (the root mean square error) < 0.0117 sr-1) and provided more available water pixels. The accuracy of ACZI was close to that of the DSF (dark spectrum fitting) algorithm and was better than that of the EXP (exponential extrapolation) algorithm and L8SR (Landsat 8 OLI Surface Reflectance) product. The ACZI algorithm showed good applicability in turbid waters.