Solar distillation represents a most attractive and simple technique among other distillation processes, and it is especially suited to small-scale units at locations where solar energy is considerable. In this solar energy is used to evaporate the water, then this vapour is condensed as pure water. This process removes salts and other impurities to produce fresh water by utilizing the heat from solar energy. Various works have been carried out to improve the distillate productivity of the solar still. This review article explains about the various techniques followed to improve the productivity of the solar still. The review includes basic principle of solar distillation, and also the quality of distilled water. A classification of the solar still systems was made in order to explain the types of solar still systems. In this study, various performance enhancement technologies are discussed.