Abstract: We consider the DOA estimation problem by using adaptive nulling antenna technology and bias-compensated adaptive filtering framework. The adaptive nulling antenna array consists of one reference antenna element and multiple auxiliary antenna elements, which forms nulls in certain directions. By defining the reciprocal of array pattern as the spatial spectrum, the DOA estimation problem is considered as the peak searching for it. In this paper, we present an efficient bias-compensated adaptive filtering algorithm for DOA estimation based on the adaptive nulling array. First of all, a new noise-free mean square error (NF-MSE) cost function associated with the adaptive nulling array is provided. Secondly, the proposed algorithm, called variable step-size bias-compensated least mean square (VSS-BC-LMS) algorithm, can be derived by minimizing the NF-MSE. Due to the bias compensation, the bias of the estimated weight vector caused by noises is canceled. More importantly, in order to resist the unsatisfactory DOA estimation performance when using the fixed step-size, a variable step size scheme is introduced. And then, its mean stability, steady state mean square performance and computational complexity are discussed. Additionally, we also explore a noise variance estimation method for calculating the bias term. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm achieves an improved DOA estimation performance compared with other adaptive methods.