This paper focuses on the design andperformance improvement of a recently developed solar humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination system comprising centrifugal air blower, humidification chamber equipped with two electric water heaters (500 W each) and a condenser. To improve the design and performance of this desalination system, a solar air heater was used before the humidification chamber to pre-heat the induced ambient air. Two sets of experiments (I and II) were performed in January 2015 under the similar ambient conditions for all the test days in Madinah (24 degrees 28' 06 '' N, 39 degrees 36' 51 '' E), Saudi Arabia. Experiment set-I was performed without solar air heater and with two electric water heaters whereas experiment set-II was performed with solar air heater and one electric water heater. The results show that daily productivity and Gained Output Ratio (GOR) significantly increased in experiment set-II compared to experiment set-I whereas the Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) and cost per liter of fresh water produced in experiment set-II was greatly reduced compared to that of experiment set-I for the studied range of induced air flow rates. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.