This paper presents an assessment of a combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) and multi-effect desalination (MED) system based on SOFC/MGT by conventional and advanced exergoeconomic analyses. The conventional exergy analysis can reveal the sources of irreversibility in the system. The largest exergy destruction occurs in after burner followed by SOFC and MED, accounting for 20.079%, 12.986%, 12.907%, respectively. In the advanced analysis, the exergy destruction, exergy destruction cost and investment cost are split into avoidable/unavoidable and endogenous/exogenous parts to investigate the real potentials of exergy and economic performances. The advanced analysis results indicate that the major exergy destructions of most components are endogenous parts with inverter, MGT and air compressor owning the most potentials to reduce exergy destructions. The modified exergy efficiency of each component in the advanced analysis is higher than the conventional one. Finally, three possible strategies are suggested to reduce the avoidable exergy destruction cost rates. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.