Desiccant cooling is a technique based on evaporative cooling and air dehumidification using desiccant regenerated by thermal energy. It is particularly interesting when it is driven by waste or solar heat making this technique environmentally friendly. In this paper, an experimental investigation is carried on a desiccant air handling unit powered by vacuum-tube solar collectors. First, the components are studied under various operating conditions. Then overall performance of the installation is evaluated over a day for a moderately humid climate with regeneration solely by solar energy. In these conditions the overall efficiency of the solar installation is 0.55 while the thermodynamic coefficient of performance is 0.45 and the performance indicator based on the electrical consumption is 4.5. Finally, the impact of outside and regeneration conditions on the performance indicators is studied. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.