The exergoeconomic and the enviroeconomic analyses of basin type single slope distiller unit based on solar energy can play an important role for mitigating the contemporary problem of acute shortage of drinking water throughout the world particularly developing and under developed countries. The technology of solar distiller unit has been known to humankind since the 16th century; however, it has not been preferred for purifying water on a large scale till date because of low potable water output, high initial investment, and non-availability of a technician at the local level. This technology is simple in nature and has the potential to mitigate the drinking water shortage; however, it has not been fully explored so far. A lot of configurations have been reported by various researchers since the development of solar distiller unit technology. This paper summarizes some of the important contributions reported so far on the basis of exergoeconomic and enviroeconomic parameters of single slope solar desalination units by incorporating the effect of nanofluid. A comparative study has been presented followed by a detailed discussion about exergoeconomic and enviroeconomic parameters of a single slope solar desalination unit loaded with/without nanofluid. It has been observed that the application of water-based nanofluid in the distiller unit results in the enhancement of performance. At last, the future scope has been presented. © 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.