Abstract The incident fraction of solar radiations on the photovoltaic (PV) panel converted into heat and electrical energy. The generated heat, reducing the performance of the photovoltaic system. The efficiency of the photovoltaic panel reduces approximately by 0.5% to 0.6% for every one-degree increase in temperature depending upon the type of solar cell material. Therefore, temperature regulations become a challenging task for improving the efficiency of the photovoltaic panel. The objective of the study to regulate the temperature photovoltaic system by using a passive cooling technique. This article presents an experimental investigation of three different PV systems under the same climatic conditions to ameliorate the performance of the system. The three panels of 40 W each are used; first conventional panel without any modification, the second photovoltaic panel with fins and PCM, a third water-based photovoltaic system with PCM. In a photovoltaic panel with fins system triangular shaped aluminum fins are used to improve the cooling system, water carrier Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) –PCM system copper pipe is used to flow the water. For both second and third system PCM, white petroleum jelly is used as phase change material. The experiment was performed by keeping all three panels at the same environmental conditions at Lonavala in Maharashtra. It has been observed from the analysis that the reduction in the temperature of the PVT - PCM panel 8.10% compared to the conventional panel. The electrical power of the water-based PVT-PCM system is 4.06% higher than that of a conventional PV panel. The enhancement in the electrical efficiency of the PVT-PCM system 4.24% more than conventional PV panel. It has been concluded that the water-based Photovoltaic thermal system could become the best configuration to give an electrical and thermal performance.