A simple straight forward transient analysis of a single basin solar still has been presented by incorporating the effect of presence of dye and attenuation of solar flux with depth in the water mass of the basin. An explicit expression for water and glass temperature, hourly yield and efficiency of solar still have been derived. Effect of various parameters viz temperature dependence of internal heat transfer coefficients, water depth, absorptivity of water mass and basin liner have been discussed in detail. An experiment has been conducted to validate the theoretical results obtained by present theory. It is concluded that