It is interesting to travel through the centuries re-discovering inventions that brilliant pioneers achieved though they lacked technological means. An historical overview may help to understand or even re-discover useful ideas that, with today's technology, can find applications. In this paper we will try to traverse historical paths by highlighting the most important ideas and features developed from antiquity until today on desalination of sea and brackish water as well as of renewable energy utilization with special reference to the use of solar energy for desalination. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.