In recent years, research has been devoted to improvement of the performance of ammonia-water absorption refrigeration systems. In this study, thermodynamic analyses for ammonia-water, ammonia-lithium nitrate and ammonia-sodium thiocyanate cycles are performed. Detailed thermodynamic properties of these binary fluids are expressed in polynomial equations. The performances of these three cycles are compared. It is found that ammonia-lithium nitrate and ammonia-sodium thiocyanate cycles are suitable alternatives to ammonia-water absorption systems. The performance of the ammonia-sodium thiocyanate cycle is slightly better than that of the ammonia-lithium nitrate cycle.