The thermal and optical performances of a roof in a building containing phase change material (PCM) were investigated in this paper. The glazing roof model consists of two layers of glass and one layer of PCM. The purpose of filling the roof structure with PCM is to utilize the solar energy efficiently. The effectiveness of thermal and optical performances of the roof PCM system was determined by analyzing the heat flux and temperature at the indoor surface with different absorption coefficients and refractive index of PCM in solid and liquid states. The results show that the absorption coefficients and refractive index of solid and liquid PCMs have both effects on thermal performance in the roof PCM system. Of all the thermal performances, the effect on internal temperature, temperature lag, and total transmitted energy is smaller and the effect on solar transmittance and transmitted solar energy is bigger. The absorption coefficients have the opposite effect with the refractive index on interior temperature lag. Considering the indoor daylight, increasing the refractive index and absorption coefficient of liquid PCM is a better method to better the thermal performance of a roof PCM system. Copyright (c) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.