Two different working pairs, one of them activated carbon-methanol and the other activated carbon-ethanol, are used in a solar ice maker to determine ice production and refrigerant criteria in desorption and adsorption processes under similar radiation energy and environmental conditions. Experimental results show that ice can be produced with activated carbon-methanol, however, ice could not be obtained with the use of activated carbon-ethanol using the same solar ice maker with similar environments and radiation intensities. Further experiments have shown that the adsorbing and desorbing refrigerant amounts of the two working pairs gave quite different results, the activated carbon-methanol has proven to be the superior one of the two working pairs in ice production of solar adsorption refrigeration. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.