Simulation studies were carried out with regard to the feasibility of using combined observations from sunphotometer (SPM) and lidar for microphysical characterization of aerosol particles, i.e., the retrieval of effective radius, volume, and surface-area concentrations. It was shown that for single, homogeneous aerosol layers, the aerosol parameters can be retrieved with an average accuracy of 30\% for a wide range of particle size distributions. Based on the simulations, an instrument combination consisting of a lidar that measures particle backscattering at 355 and 1574\mathrm{nm} , and a SPM that measures at three to four channels in the range from 340 to 1020\mathrm{nm} is a promising tool for aerosol characterization. The inversion algorithm has been tested for a set of experimental data. The comparison with the particle size distribution parameters, measured with in situ instrumentation at the lidar site, showed good agreement.