A number of studies have been conducted for investigating parameters that influence the performance of desiccant cooling systems. Many of these rely on intricate numerical simulations, especially due to coupled non-linear transport equations associated with a desiccant dehumidifier. In this study, a simple numerical procedure for designing desiccant cooling systems has been employed for analyzing the impact of cycle components' characteristics on the overall system performance. The methodology is based on solving a non-linear algebraic system stemming from heat and mass transfer balances associated with the operation of each component. The required input data involves user-prescribed inlet and room conditions, a regeneration temperature, and cycle components' effectiveness values. With the proposed methodology, results of different cooling cycles are presented in an informative graphical fashion that can readily be used as a design tool for desiccant cooling systems. The results show that COP values clearly over one can be obtained for ideal ventilation cycles, which have 100% heat wheel effectiveness. Nevertheless, a great reduction, by factors of two and higher, are obtained when this effectiveness is reduced to 0.8. In addition, the results show that a 20-30% decrease in dehumidifier performance can lead to 30-50% reduction in the overall ventilation cycle performance. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.