Water photolysis is a fundamental concept in which solar-driven water splitting is utilized to generate renewable hydrogen fuel using semiconductor-based electrochemical systems. The engineering design principles for each system configuration, including single, dual/tandem photoelectrodes, tandem photoelectrochemical-photovoltaic, and multi-junction designs are reviewed. Modeling and numerical simulation of photoelectrochemical processes based on up-to-date multi-scale analysis are presented and discussed. In addition, the achievements made in semiconductor photoelectrode materials and the rational engineering methods needed to improve the solar to hydrogen efficiency are demonstrated. Furthermore, some key accomplishments in different aspects, such as electron-hole recombination, stability, photocorrosion, energy band gap, and photocurrent density are discussed. Moreover, key points on the challenges, opportunities and future directions towards commercialization of viable photoelectrochemical reactors are discussed. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.