Abstract Adsorption desalination is an attractive and potentially competitive method of desalination among the conventional thermal desalination methods due to its ability to produce both freshwater and cooling effect. This desalination cum refrigeration system uses a low-grade heat from the solar collector to generate water vapor from the adsorber. The system employs a combined flash evaporation and thermal compression to produce potable water and cooling. In this paper, the operating and performance parameters of an adsorption desalination system has been studied. The analysis is based on the energy conservation principle applied to all processes of the theoretical cycle. The Dubinin-Astakhov model is used to describe the adsorption characteristics of the adsorbent-adsorbate pair (silica gel-water). The cycle is analyzed using the performance parameters such as fresh water production, energy consumption per kg of water produced and coefficient of performance.