Thermal performance of a single and double pass solar air heater with fins attached and using a steel wire mesh as absorber plate was investigated experimentally. The effects of air mass flow rate range between 0.012 kg/s and 0.038 kg/s on the outlet temperature and thermal efficiency was studied. The bed heights were 7 cm and 3 cm for the lower and upper channels respectively. Result shows that, the efficiency increase with increasing air mass flow rate. For the same flow rate, the efficiency of the double pass is found to be higher than the single pass by 7-19.4%. Maximum efficiency obtained for the single and double pass air heater was 59.62% and 63.74% respectively for air mass flow rate of 0.038 kg/s. Moreover, the thermal efficiency further decreases by increasing the height of the first pass of the double pass solar air heater. The temperature difference between the outlet flow and the ambient, Delta T, reduces as the air mass flow rate increase The result of a single or double solar air heater using steel wire mesh arrange in layers as an absorber plate and packing material when compared with a conventional solar air heater shows a much more substantial enhancement in the thermal efficiency. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.