A key issue for perovskite solar cells is the stability of perovskite materials due to moisture effects under ambient conditions, although their efficiency is improved constantly. Herein, an improved CH3NH3PbI3-xClx perovskite quality is demonstrated with good crystallization and stability by using water as an additive during crystal perovskite growth. Incorporating suitable water additives in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) leads to controllable growth of perovskites due to the lower boiling point and the higher vapor pressure of water compared with DMF. In addition, CH3NH3PbI3-xClx center dot nH(2)O hydrated perovskites, which can be resistant to the corrosion by water molecules to some extent, are assumed to be generated during the annealing process. Accordingly, water additive based perovskite solar cells present a high power conversion efficiency of 16.06% and improved cell stability under ambient conditions compared with the references. The findings in this work provide a route to control the growth of crystal perovskites and a clue to improve the stability of organic-inorganic halide perovskites.