Black widow optimization algorithm is a recently evolutionary metaheuristic that imitates the unique mating behaviour of the black widow spiders in the real life. The trend of published papers utilizing the BWO algorithm is growing rapidly due to its efficiency in solving various engineering optimization problems. However, the BWO does not always perform as well as it should, and this is due to the random initialization of the spiders also the loss of good candidate solutions during the search. To remedy these problems, we propose in this paper a modified black widow optimization algorithm (MBWO) based on three ideas. First, an efficient initialization technique is adopted, which can guarantee starting the search with finest quality spiders and plays a significant role in determining an optimal or near-optimal solution. Second, the sexual cannibalism phase is modified to avoid the loss of high-quality solutions. Finally, an adaptive adjustment of crossover and mutation probabilities is presented to achieve a compromise between the diversification and intensification. Experiments are carried out on nineteen standard benchmark functions with different dimensions. The simulation results reveal that MBWO algorithm outperforms the original one also other metaheuristic algorithms in term of solution accuracy, global optimality, and the convergence speed.