Utility-based routing is a special type of routing approach using a composite utility metric when making routing decisions in ad hoc and sensor networks. Previous studies on the utility-based routing all use fixed retry limit and a very simple distance related energy model, which makes the utility maximization less efficient and the implementation separated from practice. In this paper, we refine the basic utility model by capturing the correlation of the transmit power, the retry limit, the link reliability and the energy cost. A routing algorithm based on the refined utility model with adaptive transmit power and retry limit allocation is proposed. With this algorithm, packets with different priorities will automatically receive utility-optimal delivery. The design of this algorithm is based on the observation that for a given benefit, there exists a utility-maximum route with optimal transmit power and retry limit allocated to intermediate forwarding nodes. Delivery along the utility-optimal route makes a good balance between the energy cost and the reliability according to the value of the packets. Both centralized algorithm and distributed implementations are discussed. Simulations prove the satisfying performance of the proposed algorithm.