Chlorinated iminium chlorides have been identified to promote the highly efficient and selective mono-chlorination of unsymmetrical vicinal diols. Vilsmeier reagent, namely, (chloromethylene)dimethyliminium chloride, enables highly reactive and regioselective chlorination of 1,2- and 1,3-diols featured one secondary benzylic hydroxy group and one primary aliphatic hydroxy group to give the corresponding 1,2- and 1,3-chlorohydrins. Viehe’s salts (α,α-dichloro iminium salts) exhibit excellent reactivity and good selectivity for vicinal diols to give the corresponding chlorohydrin carbamates via a cyclic intermediate in situ. The chlorination protocols tolerate diverse functional groups, including halogens, naphthalene rings, nitro, and cyano. Moreover, the optical purity of chiral diols could be retained during this chlorination reaction.