Differential evolution (DE) is a simple yet efficient evolutionary algorithm for real-world engineering problems. However, its search ability should be further enhanced to obtain better solutions when DE is applied to solve complex optimization problems. This paper presents an enhanced differential evolution with elite chaotic local search (DEECL). In DEECL, it utilizes a chaotic search strategy based on the heuristic information from the elite individuals to promote the exploitation power. Moreover, DEECL employs a simple and effective parameter adaptation mechanism to enhance the robustness. Experiments are conducted on a set of classical test functions. The experimental results show that DEECL is very competitive on the majority of the test functions.