Solar⁃powered water evaporation as a solar⁃powered photothermal conversion application has attracted people's attention due to its high solar energy conversion efficiency and the industrial potential of clean water production. In recent years, solar⁃powered evaporation systems, which position energy conversion between solar energy and thermal energy at the air/liquid interface, have been proposed as an alternative to conventional volumetric heating evaporation because they can reduce heat loss and increase energy conversion efficiency. In this review, we discussed how to implement high⁃performance evaporation system design strategies, including porous nanostructures, interfacial evaporation structures, and wicking structures, as well as three systems that described solar⁃driven water evaporation, namely volume systems, interface systems, and Isolation system. This paper described the possibility of applying this solar⁃driven interface evaporation process to desalination and wastewater treatment, and discussed some of the problems and challenges.