In this paper, a new design of a v-corrugated absorber solar still with built-in phase change material (PCM) is presented. This design allows for the expansion of melting wax through a net of tubes extended inside the storage tank. The system is tested with and without the PCM using different water masses. Adding wick over the corrugated plate using PCM is also investigated. Paraffin wax is chosen as a PCM due to its medium storage, safety, reliability, uniform melting and moderate cost. The experimental investigation shows that the solar still with using the PCM beneath the corrugated plate with less basin water mass achieves the best thermal performance among other studied configurations. Using the PCM causes a little decrease in the daylight productivity with a considerable increase in the still overnight productivity. The daily productivity of the still with the PCM when m(W) = 25 kg is 12% and 11.7% better than those for the v-corrugated still without the PCM and with the PCM using wick, respectively. Cost analysis is also performed where the cost per liter (CPL) for the still without PCM, with PCM and with PCM using wick are estimated as 0.07182, 0.08369 and 0.09558 $/1, respectively. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.