Abstract This paper focuses on semilattices with adjunctions (SLatas), which are semilattices with a greatest element enriched with a pair of adjoint maps. We develop a spectral-style duality for SLatas, building on prior topological dualities for monotone semilattices. As an application of this duality, we characterize SLata congruences through an adaptation of lower-Vietoris-type families. Furthermore, we investigate tense operators on semilattices with a greatest element, deriving a duality for this case by extending the results obtained for SLatas.