The demand of freshwater is constantly increasing due to population growth. Desalination, the process of converting salt water to freshwater, is a common technology. This study investigates the effect of different parameters on the potable water productivity of solar still under the climatic condition of Zagazig, Egypt in order to determine the numerical parameters and to be used for design of solar still for small and rural communities. The impact of varying water depths (2–12 cm), salinities (2,500–12,000 ppm) and angles of inclination (20°–40°) on the performance of the still were examined. The results showed that productivity of the solar still increases with decreasing water depth and salinity of water, while increasing the cover angle in winter enhances productivity and efficiency. The still produced water suitable for drinking and met World Health Organization standards with removal efficiency of 99.5% and 99.9% for total dissolved solids (TDS) and chloride for seawater. The study also includes a theoretical study that predicts the thermal behavior of the still and the predicted results were compared with the experimental results. Results show that there are slight differences between the experimental and predicted outputs within the acceptable range. Finally, seawater with total dissolved solids of 33,000 and 2,500 ppm was tested using the optimum conditions of the experimental work and the results showed a good agreement with synthetic water and also with the theoretical results. The maximum daily output was recorded as 850 mL/m2 per 10 h for 2,500 ppm unfiltered seawater, 800 mL/m2 per 10 h for 33,000 ppm unfiltered seawater, 790 mL/m2 per 10 h for 2,500 ppm filtered seawater, 304 mL/m2 per 10 h for 33,000 ppm filtered seawater. The maximum daily output was recorded as 710 mL/m2 per 10 h for synthetic water of TDS of 2,500 ppm. The economic analysis revealed that solar still is cheaper than market water with a cost of 0.08142 $/L. The obtained results are of particular importance for small and rural communities, as they can be used to design simple solar still unit that does not require preliminary or post-treatment steps, with low operating and maintenance costs, and moreover does not require skilled labor