The leaf color of maize is associated to the content and structure of chloroplast, which is the compartment and of importance in photosynthesis. Genetic analysis and isolation of genes that control the leaf color will provide insights in the genetic improvement for photosynthetic yield and exploration of the theoretical mechanism. In this study, by screening for maize mutants generated by W22::Mu in introgression lines with genetic background of Z31, we obtained a leaf color mutant with the abnormal chloroplast, lack of pigment and the reduction of PSII, which was controlled by a single recessive locus. By the low-resolution genetic mapping using the SSR markers, this mutation locus was mapped to a 2.95 Mb interval (B73 RefGen_V4; bnlg1863-umc2075). Furthermore, this locus was finely mapped to a ~900 Kb interval (B73 RefGen_V4; S1- S7) by 1200 individuals plants from BC6F2 and developed SSR. Taking advantage of gene annotation and expression analysis, we identified a strong candidate gene Zm00001d010000 that encodes for thioredoxin. Thus, the study could provide genetic material and the selection markers that become valuable in theoretical and applied research for increasing photosynthetic yield.