Adsorptive atmospheric water harvesting technology, which makes use of hygroscopic materials to adsorb water vapour from the air, desorb it through solar-driven desorption, and collect it through condensation to produce fresh liquid water, has been acknowledged as a promising technology for decentralized water supply in arid areas. In order to realise the practical application of this technology in daily life, industrial and agricultural production, etc. as soon as possible, researchers have carried out a lot of explorations and practices and made some breakthroughs. Based on a brief introduction of the technical process of adsorption, desorption and condensation collection in adsorption atmospheric water harvesting, this paper focuses on the desorption stage, summarises in detail the hygroscopic and desorption mechanisms of moisture-absorbing materials and seeks to elucidate the optimisation strategies to improve the desorption capacity and condensation effect based on the material structure and collector design. Finally, the paper provides an overview of the challenges faced by solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) from the aspects of both basic research and practical application, as well as the outlook of the future development of the technology.