To enhance the safety of lithium ion battery, cresyl diphenyl phosphate (CDP) is explored as an additive in 1.0M LiPF6/ethylene carbonate (EC)+diethyl carbonate (DEC) (1:1wt.). The electrochemical performances of LiCoO2/CDP-electrolyte/C cells are tested. At the thermal aspect, the thermal stability of the electrolyte with CDP is detected firstly by using a C80 micro-calorimeter, and then the charged LiCoO2/CDP-electrolyte/C cells are disassembled and wrapped to detect the thermal behaviors. The results indicate that CDP-containing electrolyte enhances the thermal stabilities of electrolyte and lithium ion battery, and the electrochemical performances of LiCoO2/CDP-electrolyte/C cell become slightly worse by using CDP in the electrolyte. Furthermore, the cell with 10% (wt.) CDP-containing electrolyte shows better cycle efficiency than that of other CDP-containing electrolyte, such as containing 5% (wt.) CDP and 15% (wt.) CDP. This maybe because that the mass ratio between CDP and electrolyte is close to the reaction stoichiometric ratio in the 10% (wt.) CDP-containing electrolyte, where stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) is formed. Therefore, 10% CDP-containing electrolyte improves the safety of lithium ion battery and keeps its electrochemical performance.