This paper presents a comprehensive investigation of an ejector refrigeration system using conventional and advanced exergy analysis. Splitting the exergy destruction within each system component into endogenous/exogenous and avoidable/unavoidable parts provides additional useful information and improves the quality of the exergy analysis. Detailed calculations of the exergy destruction parts are schematically illustrated. Conventional exergy analysis indicates that about half of the total exergy destruction is caused by the ejector and about one quarter occurs in the generator. The advanced exergy analysis reflects the strong interactions between system components. The ejector has the highest priority to be improved, followed by the condenser and then the generator. The temperature difference in the condenser has the largest influence on the exergy destruction compared to that in the generator and the evaporator, and the ejector efficiencies are also very crucial for the exergy destruction. The system performance can be largely enhanced through improvements of the ejector and the condenser as well as the generator. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.