To reduce the implementation complexity of the Vertical Bell Labs layered space-time (V-BLAST) systems with respect to the zero-forcing (ZF) criterion, a computationally efficient recursive algorithm is proposed. A fast implementation of the proposed algorithm is developed and its complexity is analyzed in detail. The proposed algorithm matches the ZF-OSIC detection well, and its three significant advantages can be demonstrated by analyses and simulations. Firstly, its speedups over the conventional ZF-OSIC with norm-based ordering, the original fast recursive algorithm (FRA) and the fastest known algorithm (FKA) in the number of flops are 1.58, 2.33 and 1.22, respectively. Secondly, a much simpler implementation than FRA and FKA can be expected. Finally, the storage requirements are lower than those of FRA and FKA. These advantages make the proposed algorithm more efficient and practical.