In order to estimate the unknown parameters of the chaotic systems more accurately, we propose a method for the parameter estimation of chaotic systems based on the artificial bee colony algorithm. This method converts the parameter estimation of chaotic systems to the function optimization problem of a multi-dimensional variable and then uses a search equation to fully search the multi-dimensional spatial variable. Furthermore, the optimized artificial bee colony algorithm is applied to calculate the mean square error between the estimated value and the true value, so as to realize the parameter estimation in the chaotic systems. In addition, the results of parameter estimation simulation of the Lorenz chaotic system indicate the feasibility of the proposed method. Besides, the improved algorithm has fast convergence and high estimation accuracy.