The propagation and absorption characteristics of pump light in the side-coupled cladding-pumped active fiber were investigated. A model taking both the absorbing and coupling coefficients into account was established. It is revealed that the absorbing effect of the active fiber enhance the pump-light coupling from the passive fiber to the active fiber, while the coupling effect reduce the absorbing process compared to the common double-cladding fiber. The study also considers the effect of the coupling coefficient ratio. It is found that higher effective absorption coefficient requires bigger absorption coefficient and smaller coupling coefficient ratio. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.