Alternative techniques for determining the extinction coefficient and the lidar ratio from the optical-depth and backscatter-coefficient profiles are compared: (1) the techniques, in which the extinction coefficient is a primarily extracted parameter, which is then used to calculate the lidar ratio, and (2) the alternative techniques, which determine these two quantities in a reversed consequence. To analyze specifics of these techniques, their advantages and drawbacks, simulated data of an artificial lidar are inverted. As follows from the simulations, the alternative techniques can yield more accurate inversion results compared to the techniques where the extinction coefficient is the primarily extracted parameter.