More accurate new anisotropic diffuse radiation model (NADR model) has been proposed, but the parameters and calculation process of NADR model used in the process are complex. So it is difficult to widely used in the simulation software and engineering calculation. Based on analysis of the diffuse radiation model and measured diffuse radiation data, this paper put forward three hypotheses: (1) diffuse radiation from sky horizontal region is concentrated in a very thin layer which is close to the line source; (2) diffuse radiation from circumsolar region is concentrated in the point of the sun; (3) diffuse radiation from orthogonal region is concentrated in the point located at 90 degree angles with the Sun. Based on these hypotheses, NADR model is simplified to a new simplified anisotropic diffuse radiation model (NSADR model). Then the accuracy of NADR model and its simplified model (NSADR model) are compared with existing models based on the measured values, and the result shows that Perez model and its simplified model are relatively accurate among existing models. However, the accuracy of these two models is lower than the NADR model and NSADR model due to neglect the influence of the orthogonal diffuse radiation. The accuracy of the NSADR model is higher than that of the existing models, meanwhile, another advantage is that the NSADR model simplifies the process of solution parameters and calculation. Therefore it is more suitable for calculating the diffuse radiation of the inclined plane. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.