In this paper a new self-sustainable hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PV/T)-integrated-active solar still has been designed and tested for composite climate at I.I.T. New Delhi (28 degrees 32'N, 77 degrees 12'E). The PV system is used to generate electricity to run the pump (60 W and 18 V) as well as thermal energy to heat the water in the collector. The proposed design of hybrid-active solar still can be used at any remote location because of its self-sustainability. The experiments were performed on the set-LIP for different water depths and for different running duration of the pump. It has been observed that the hybrid-active solar still gives a higher yield (more than 3.5 times) than the passive solar still. It has also been observed that the daily distillate yield and thermal efficiency of the hybrid-active solar still remain almost the same for all water depths in the basin by reducing the daily running period of the pump from 9 to 5 h. This running period of the pump reduced saves 43% of the power used to run the Pump with 9 h running, without affecting the performance of the solar still. This work also deals with exergy analysis of the system. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.