In a fast moving and very competitive world, high energy requirement could be very demanding for engineers and researcher. Nevertheless, it sometimes misled to unwanted pollution and destruction to the environment. Energy cooling in buildings in a hot and humid country is one of the biggest contributors to this problem. Main reason is because of vapour compression cycle system requires high energy to dehumidify the air. This conventional air-conditioning system can be replaced by using desiccant cooling technologies. The objective of this paper is to review the development and application of solid and liquid desiccant cooling technologies. We will be looking on the basics and further enhancement of both solid and liquid desiccant technologies. For solid desiccant, we studied the classic desiccant-based rotor wheel and also other type of dehumidifier such as fixed bed solid desiccant. For liquid desiccant, we studied the single stage and multiple stage liquid dehumidification system and hybrid liquid desiccant cooling system. We also focus on the dehumidification mechanism for heat and mass transfer and also liquid desiccant solution. From the review, we can use as guidelines to develop a new desiccant cooling technology.