ABSTRACT In the recent past, direct solar energy-based distillation for the production of freshwater has been the subject of extensive research. Nevertheless, the outdoor experimental study did not thoroughly investigate the incorporation of the interfacial absorber concept in conventional solar distillation. Therefore, the impact of a simple black paint spray coated double-layer cellulose sponge on the freshwater yield of a solar distillation system is examined in this work. The modified top layer of the cellulose sponge exhibited an increase in the average absorbance of solar radiation from 27.59% to 86.88% in the wavelength range of 200–2400 nm. The maximum freshwater yield of the black paint-coated cellulose sponge-based floatable interfacial absorber (Unit II) was found to be 3.85 L/m2/day, which was 29.27% higher than that of the conventional solar distillation unit (Unit I) upon 4 days of experimental investigation. Comparably, Unit-II outperformed Unit I with an overall evaporation efficiency of 46.08%, which was 10.22% higher than Unit I. Furthermore, Unit II attained an exergy efficiency of 64.24%, surpassing Unit I by 28.5%. Therefore, in order to address the water shortage in rural areas of society, this work would assist researchers in designing and developing an effective interfacial absorber.