Camera pose estimation, including the estimation of rotation matrix and translation vector, has extensive applications in machine vision area. In this paper, an iterative algorithm based on virtual control points is proposed. The basic idea is to acquire the camera pose estimation in a short time by using fewer virtual control points, and to realize a detailed adjustment by using the famous orthogonal iterative algorithm, so that the accuracy and the stability of the whole algorithm can be improved. Experimental results show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than most popular iterative algorithms for camera pose estimation, and it has a strong ability of resisting both noise disturbing and error registration of control points. Furthermore, it can be applied in real measurement environment. Therefore, the proposed algorithm is an effective algorithm for camera pose estimation.