To address limitations of traditional meter scattering lidar in detecting large blind areas at close range, we present a coaxial meter scattering lidar aerosol detection system. Firstly, numerical simulation of the signal to noise ratio of the system echo signal is carried out based on the standard atmospheric model and lidar system parameters. This study mainly discussed the influence of laser pulse energy, radar receiving aperture and pulse accumulation number on the echo signal to noise ratio, of which the increase in the radar receiving aperture is the most obvious improvement. Secondly, a balanced detector is designed to convert the scattered return light into a photoelectric; Finally, based on the system structure, a movable meter scattering lidar experimental platform was built. The atmospheric aerosol was preliminarily detected, and the experimental results showed that the increase in the emitted laser pulse energy had little influence on the explorative distance. This system can reach a 10 km explore distance effectively. The balanced detection method is 2.7 times which is higher the direct detection method. The coaxial design of the system makes the close detection blind zone almost zero, and the spatial resolution can reach 120 m.