An effective signal detection algorithm with low complexity is presented for multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems. The proposed technique, QR-MLD, combines the conventional maximum likelihood detection (MLD) algorithm and the QR algorithm, resulting in much lower complexity compared to MLD. The proposed technique is compared with a similar algorithm, showing that the complexity of the proposed technique with T=1 is a 95% improvement over that of MLD, at the expense of about a 2-dB signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) degradation for a bit error rate (BER) of $10^{-3}$. Additionally, with T=2, the proposed technique reduces the complexity by 73% for multiplications and 80% for additions and enhances the SNR performance about 1 dB for a BER of $10^{-3}$.