A new enhancement method is proposed based on the characteristics of fundus images in this paper. Firstly, top-hat transform is utilized to weaken the background. Secondly, contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) is performed to improve the uneven illumination. Finally, two-dimensional matched filters are designed to further enhance the contrast between blood vessels and background. The algorithm was tested in DIARETDB0 databases and showed good applicability for both normal and pathological fundus images. A new no-reference image quality assessment method was used to evaluate the enhancement methods objectively. The results demonstrated that the proposed method could effectively weaken the background, increase contrast, enhance details in the fundus images and improve the image quality greatly.