The presence of multiple scattering contributions to a space borne lidar returns from molecular atmosphere, cirrus layers and cumulus clouds leads to a limitation of the application of single scattering approach to the retrieval of extinction profiie and optical depth. These limitations are observed not only within the cloud but also in the domain of the clear atmosphere hidden by the cloud layers. The retrieval of the extinction and optical depth in clear and cloudy atmosphere has been carried out by Klettt's inversion methods. For clear inhomogeneous atmosphere in visible spectral region the use of Klett's inversion method on data which include multipie scattering contributions leads to a reduction of about l0 % of the retrieval values in lower 30 km atmospheric slab as compared with the initial data. Influence of transparent multilayered cirrus clouds results in a reduction of the retrieval extinction coefficient varying between 30-50 %.