An improved algorithm for phase-to-height mapping in phase-measuring profilometry (PMP) is proposed, in which the phase-to-height mapping relationship is no longer restricted to the condition that the optical axes of the imaging system must be orthogonal to the reference plane in the basic PMP. Only seven coefficients independent of the coordinate system need to be calibrated, and the system calibration can be accomplished using only two different gauge blocks, instead of more than three different standard planes. With the proposed algorithm, both the phase measurement and system calibration can be completed simultaneously, which makes the three-dimensional (3-D) measurement faster and more flexible. Experiments have verified its feasibility and validity.