In this paper, a comparative analysis has been presented on various topologies of isolated and non isolated DC-DC converters. Here, the major focus remains on transformer-less (TL) DC-DC converters, based on the conventional basic boost converter. In addition, to attain high voltage gain, a classification of non-isolated converters based on extendable and non-extendable design has been presented. For comparative and theoretical analysis, the parameters chosen are the number of components utilized by each converter topology, high voltage gain offered, voltage stresses on each component involved and the efficiency of the high gain topologies. For the converters under discussion, operation under ideal and non-ideal conditions has also been highlighted. Based on this study, authors present a guide for the reader to identify various high voltage gain topologies for photovoltaic (PV) systems. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.