NCETEST-2014 A Review and Recent Developments in Solar Water Distillation Shailja Bahuguna 1 ,Pooja Verma 2 ,Shivani Chauhan 2 ,Priya Choudhary 2 ,Amit Sharma 2 and 1 College Of Engineering Roorkee, Roorkee, India Email: sbabmb@gmail.com 2 College Of Engineering Roorkee, Roorkee, India Email: p_verma25@yahoo.com , shivanichauhan906@gmail.com, priyachoudharyrke@gmail.com , amitcoer1994@gmail.com, ABSTRACT Solar energy is one of the cheapest and easily available source of energy and we can use it in many ways. One of its application is water purification. The basic idea of solar water distillation came from Aristotle in 4 th century BC. There are many types of solar stills designed for this purpose. Solar still is a device which is used to purify water, it operates on the same process as water cycle i.e., evaporation and condensation. Many researchers in this field give mathematical relations, accomplish different research and show positive results. An extensive review on different types of solar stills has been carried out in this paper. This review will also help us in gathering further practical approach in this field. Key words: Solar energy, distillation, solar still INTRODUCTION The renewable energy is very important for today’s world as well as in near future, the non- renewable energy that we are using are going to get exhaust. Solar energy is one of the most important renewable resource. It has a great feature of no fuel cost. Clean drinking water is the basic essential need for every human being, and many people don’t have a single drop to drink. Solar energy has experienced a vast and impressive technological experience. In many coastal areas, where there is no supply of pure water, people use solar still. Distillation is one of the process through which we can get purified water. This requires an energy input, as heat, solar radiation can be used. The basic principle behind this technique is evaporation followed by the condensation. This is a perfect alternate source of clean water. This is one of the best solution for remote areas too. Solar stills are mainly of two types: Active and Passive solar stills. Without the consumption of electrical energy, potable water is derived from the passive solar still. The advantages of using this process are: i. Distillation produces high quality of water. ii. Maintenance is not required. iii. There is negligible wastage of water. iv. pH level is maintained during the process. v. This process use less energy as compared to other techniques. As every coin has two sides, this easiest process also has advantages as well as drawbacks. Some of its major drawbacks are: i. Large floor area ii. Time consuming Scientists are working hard to find the solutions of the above mentioned limitations. The purpose of this introduction about the solar water distiller is to provide a sufficient knowledge and to direct the reader to know more about the solar still. LITERATURE REVIEW Solar water distillation is an antique way of converting impure water into potable water. First time, this technique was used by Arab alchemists in 1551.In 1872, the first modern