The texturization of monocrystalline silicon wafers using sodium carbonate solution has been investigated. This etching process has been evaluated in terms of the surface morphology and the reflectance value. The results show that for low concentration of sodium carbonate the increase of texturing time decreases the reflectance value because of the change in morphology from hillocks to pyramidal; on the contrary for intermediate and high concentrations the increase of time has a detrimental effect on texturization because it increases both the pyramid sizes and their non-uniform distribution. However, a good cell performance could be obtained by etching at high concentrations and short times. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.