This article presents a transient model of a solar adsorption cooling system. A computer program is developed to simulate the operation of a two-bed silica gel- water adsorption cooling system as well as flat plate collectors and the hot water storage tank. This program is then utilized to simulate the performance of a sample solar adsorption cooling system used for cooling a set of rooms that comprises an area of 52 m2 located in Ahwaz city in Iran. The results include the temperature profiles of hot, cooling and chilled water in addition to adsorption/desorption beds, evaporator and condenser, collector hot water temperature, auxiliary heater fuel consumption and solar fraction of the system. Furthermore, the effect of the cycle time on COP (coefficient of performance), SCP (Specific Cooling Power), refrigeration capacity, fuel consumption and solar fraction is studied. The results show that the cycle time increases COP and SF of the cycle but decreases cooling capacity and supplementary heater fuel consumption.