The large carbon footprint' of traditional desalination technologies has spurred interest in several potential alternative technologies that exploit low-grade heat such as waste heat or solar energy. This paper is concerned with one of these alternatives: adsorption-based desalination (AD), which generates potable water and, depending on the cycle details, cooling as well. In this paper, the recent progress on the research and development of the AD technology at the University of Adelaide has been reviewed. Theoretical studies on AD performed there include the development of thermodynamic and kinetic mathematical models, which elucidate the effect of operational and design parameters (e. g., operating heating/cooling water temperatures and cycle times) on the nature of the thermodynamic cycles and performance (i.e., system water productivity and specific energy consumptions) of AD. A series of experiments has been designed and undertaken to validate these models. In addition, the current development status in the AD area in the world is also briefed in the paper.