Purified drinking water is the basic need of human beings. Purification of water assisted by freely available solar energy can be the best alternative compared with other water purification techniques available in the market today which consume nonrenewable energy. Distillation, which is the most ancient method, is being used for water purification. The device in which solar thermal energy converts brackish water into pure drinkable form is known as a solar still. Present article reports an extensive study of numerous designs of solar stills. The article also includes a review of effect of each parameter that influences the water productivity that is, pure water.Considerations of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and mass transfer are also explained in brief. The reviews of various kinds of analysis namely, theoretical, experimental, computational, cost, and water quality have been reported.
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