Abstract: A non-destructive method was described for characterizing biological cells scattering. Firstly, the numerical simulation was performed to analyze the light scattering properties of biological cells based on the discrete dipole approximation (DDA). Then the angular dependence of the scattering intensity related to the relative refractive index, and the particle diameter were discussed in detail. The analysis shows that the scattering intensity of the living cells increases with the scattering angle and relative refractive index, and the main scattering energy is concentrated in the scattering angle less than 10. In addition, an experimental measurement on suspended bovine kidney cells was performed and the results was compared with the simulation. Finally, the angular distribution of scattering from the simulation and experiment matched well at the angle range of 5 to 52. This result demonstrates that DDA can be used for further theoretical research and experimental methods for biological cells scattering characteristics.