One-class classification (OCC) is one of the recent growing areas in data mining and pattern recognition. In the present study we examine a k-nearest neighbors data description (kNNDD) algorithm, one of the OCC algorithms widely used. In particular, we propose to use nonparametric estimation methods to determine the threshold of the kNNDD algorithm. A simulation study has been conducted to explore the characteristics of the proposed approach and compare it with the existing approach that determines the threshold. The results demonstrate the usefulness and flexibility of the proposed approach.