To locate an object accurately in the wireless sensor networks, the distance measure based on time-delay plays an important role. In this paper, we propose a maximum likelihood (ML) time-delay estimation algorithm in multi-path wireless propagation channel. We get the joint probability density function after sampling the frequency domain response of the multi-path channel, which could be obtained by the vector network analyzer. Based on the ML criterion, the time-delay values of different paths are estimated. Considering the ML function is non-linear with respect to the multi-path time-delays, we first obtain the coarse values of different paths using the subspace fitting algorithm, then take them as an initial point, and finally get the ML time-delay estimation values with the pattern searching optimization method. The simulation results show that although the ML estimation variance could not reach the Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLB), its performance is superior to that of subspace fitting algorithm, and could be seen as a fine algorithm.