A shortage of safe drinking water is one of the leading problems in the world. Even in developed countries where water treatment systems are present, safe drinking water may not be always available due to the limitations of advanced water treatment techniques and high energy costs. On the other hand, many rural communities in Asia and Africa situated in semi-arid to arid regions are without reliable access to clean drinking water. It is, therefore, important to explore how solar energy can be linked to water treatment systems for clean drinking water production. Membrane-based water purification technologies play a major role in water purification by utilization of low-cost heat sources to make the process economically and technically viable for small, medium, and large-scale applications. Solar energy can be a viable source of power for water purification facilities in the coming years. Photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors are appropriate solar energy collectors for making a solar-powered water treatment system. Solar-assisted membrane-based water purification techniques could have a viable solution to the existing problems in semi-arid and arid regions. Due to the high quality of potable water demand, studies have been carried out on solar-assisted membrane-based technologies in water purification. This review considers basic concepts, specific energy consumption, water production cost, and applications of solar-driven membrane-based water purification technologies such as reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, electrodialysis, membrane distillation, and hybrid membrane systems. This review will allow the researchers to have a wider overview of the effort made by several investigators in the area of solar-assisted membrane-based water purification technology.

安全饮用水的短缺是世界上的主要问题之一。即使在存在水处理系统的发达国家，由于先进的水处理技术和高昂的能源成本的局限，也可能无法始终获得安全的饮用水。另一方面，位于半干旱至干旱地区的亚洲和非洲许多农村社区无法可靠地获得干净的饮用水。因此，重要的是探索如何将太阳能与水处理系统联系起来以生产清洁饮用水。膜-水净化技术低的利用率起到净化水的主要作用-成本热源，使该方法在经济上和技术上可行的小型，中型和大型-扩展应用程序。在未来几年中，太阳能可以成为水净化设施的可行能源。光伏板和太阳能集热器是用于制造太阳能适当太阳能收集器-供电的水处理系统。基于太阳能的基于膜的净水技术可以为半干旱和干旱地区的现有问题提供可行的解决方案。由于饮用水需求的高品质，研究已经开展了太阳能-辅助膜-在水净化为基础的技术。这项审查认为基本概念，具体的能耗，水生产成本，太阳能的应用-驱动膜-基础的水净化技术，例如反渗透，正渗透，电渗析，膜蒸馏和混合膜系统。这一审查将允许研究人员有在太阳能领域的一些研究者所作努力的一个更广泛的概述-辅助膜-水净化技术。