We propose an interference-canceller-aided (ICA) code timing acquisition scheme, code acquisition in short subsequently, for initial synchronization of direct sequence-code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems with interference cancellation (IC). The scheme removes completely or partially multiple access interference (MAI) due to the already-synchronized users from the received signal prior to code acquisition of a desired user. Code acquisition is then performed using the MAI-reduced signal. We compare the ICA code acquisition scheme with the conventional non-ICA scheme in terms of the probability of correct acquisition and the code timing accuracy. Simulation results shows that the proposed scheme can accommodate many more users than the conventional one and provide reliable code timing estimates even under many more interfering users.