In this paper, a mean shift-based clustering algorithm is proposed. The mean shift is a kernel-type weighted mean procedure. Herein, we first discuss three classes of Gaussian, Cauchy and generalized Epanechnikov kernels with their shadows. The robust properties of the mean shift based on these three kernels are then investigated. According to the mountain function concepts, we propose a graphical method of correlation comparisons as an estimation of defined stabilization parameters. The proposed method can solve these bandwidth selection problems from a different point of view. Some numerical examples and comparisons demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method including those of computational complexity, cluster validity and improvements of mean shift in large continuous, discrete data sets. We finally apply the mean shift-based clustering algorithm to image segmentation. ᭧ 2007 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.