Aluminum nitride (AlN) powders were prepared by the chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) process in the $AlCl_{3}-NH_{3}-N_{2}$ system. Aluminum chloride ($AlCl_3$) as the starting material was gasified in the heating chamber of $300^{circ}C$. Aluminum chloride gas transported to the furnace in $NH_{3}-N_{2}$ atmosphere at the gas flow rate of 200-400ml/min. For samples synthesized between 700 and $1200^{circ}C$, the XRD peaks corresponding to AlN were comparatively sharp and also showed an improvement of crystallinity with increasing the reaction temperature. In additions, the average particle size of the AlN powders decreased from 250 to 40 nm, as the reaction temperature increased.