We developed a laboratory used laser-produced plasma X-ray source. Its characteristics concerning X-ray radiation were evaluated for Al, Ti, Fe and Nb targets in a wavelength region from 2 to 18 nm. The experimental results shows that the source has a brightness of 10⁸∼10⁹ photons/0.1 nm/rad²/mm²/shot at a laser intensity of 9×10¹² W/cm² and X-ray radiates with an energy conversion efficiency of about 4%. Futhermore, to demonstrate an application of the source to surface analysis, we constructed an X-ray diffractometer using the source and obtained X-ray diffraction profiles of a periodic Mo/Si multilayer structure.