The performance of parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) coupled with single slope solar still at various water mediums is assessed based on productivity, energy, exergy, exergoeconomic, and enviroeconomic methodologies and also Energy payback time. Six solar still systems are considered; conventional solar still (CSS), CSS coupled with PTC (CSS + PTC), CSS contains steel wire mesh in the basin (CSS + WM), CSS contains wire mesh and coupled with PTC (CSS + WM + PTC), CSS contains sand in the basin (CSS + SD), and CSS contains sand and integrated with PTC (CSS + SD + PTC). Experiments are conducted under hot and cold climate conditions of Sohag city, Egypt. Findings show that the maximum freshwater yield in summer is achieved in case of CSS + SD + PTC with an increase of 1.21% compared to CSS and 102.1% compared to CSS + SD + PTC in winter. The maximum increase of the energy and exergy output per year compared to CSS is achieved in case of CSS + SD + PTC of 216.6% and 325%, respectively. Incorporation PTC with the still for all studied water mediums is found promising in terms of energy payback time, cost and freshwater yield compared to CSS without PTC. The exergoeconomic and environmental parameters of the active systems are found more effective related to those of passive systems. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.