<p>Renewable energy-based solar energy-driven adsorption desalination (ADS) seems to be a great potential solution for sustainable water desalination. This review serves a broad purpose by identifying some of the newest trends in ADS technologies and offering new insights into the most recent changes in system configurations, adsorbents, and system hybrids. Implementation of ADS systems is judged on the daily water production rate, gain output ratio, coefficient of performance, and the specific cooling power. This review focuses on reviewing the effectiveness of the implementation of hybrid systems into the existing ones especially the use of ejectors which has recorded high efficiency in water production. Even the latest in adsorption materials: Sodium polyacrylate also have seen bursts in the desalination performance. In addition, other enhancements have been realized in the heat exchangers especially in the wire-wound finned tube designs leading to improved thermal and in turn system efficiency. Issues such as the enhancement of material adsorption properties and heat transfer are also presented as future difficulties. Some suggestions for further investigations are finally discussed in the review concerning the creation of new generations of 2D adsorbents and the usage of 3D structures of heat exchangers in the system. The current review seeks to provide researchers and engineers with the necessary navigational tools that will enhance development of solar-driven ADS systems for efficient and cost-effective desalination processes.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>