Asian dust is an important source of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in the mixed-phase cloud. During atmospheric transport, the freezing efficiency of dust can be strongly affected by solutes. Better understanding in the physicochemical properties at single particle level and ice-nucleating ability of dust particles are the fundamental basis for the assessment of their environmental and climatic effects. In this study, single particle analysis was conducted to obtain the size distribution and mineralogical composition of dust particles from the Tengger Desert, one of the largest deserts in northern China. The dust particles were dominated by illite, chlorite and mixed-dust. Using optical microscopy, heterogeneous nucleation in the immersion mode was observed to occur between 249.2K and 262.3K when increasing the dust concentration from 0.00014wt% to 0.1wt%. In the same dust concentration, the Tengger dust particles were more efficient INPs compared to kaolinite, illite, chlorite and quartz. The median freezing temperature (T₅₀) increased approximately linearly with logarithm of dust concentration. The (NH₄)₂SO₄ solution increased T₅₀ of droplets containing Tengger dust particles by up to 4.6 K, while the NaCl, H₂SO₄ and HNO₃ solution had no significant effect on T₅₀. A new ice nucleation activity site density parameterization is proposed for Tengger dust particles which can be applied in the cloud models.