Abstract <p>Developing efficient polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) thin-film solar cells offers a promising route to reducing photovoltaic costs, but their performance is strongly constrained by carrier recombination. In this work, a two-dimensional device simulation is developed to analyse recombination mechanisms in pc-Si thin-film solar cells, incorporating Gaussian and tail-distributed donor- and acceptor-like traps for bulk recombination and delta-distributed traps for interface recombination. Both Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) and auger recombination, along with interface recombination, are examined in detail. Results show that increasing defect density enhances both SRH and auger recombination, with SRH dominating below emitter doping densities of 10¹⁶ cm^–3 and auger recombination prevailing above this level; however, SRH remains dominant across absorber defect densities from 10¹⁴ to 10¹⁹ cm^–3. Interface trap densities between 10¹¹ and 10¹³ cm^–2 are found to significantly degrade performance, underscoring the need for bulk and interface trap passivation. Device performance metrics; short-circuit current density (<i>J</i>_SC), open-circuit voltage (<i>V</i>_OC), fill factor (FF), and efficiency are further evaluated against variations in absorber bandgap, absorber thickness, and emitter doping concentration. For an optimized absorber thickness of 3 μm, absorber bandgap of 1.3 eV, emitter doping of 10¹⁸ cm^–3, and interface trap density of 10¹² cm^–2, the model predicts a maximum efficiency of ~9.6%. The developed model is in good agreement with reported experimental results.</p>