An experimental and theoretical study has been conducted to determine the thermal efficiency of a parabolic trough solar collector. The experiments have been performed during winter and summer at Tikrit-Iraq. The solar radiation of Tikrit University was calculated theoretically and a theoretical study was performed by using FORTRAN 90 program. The dimensions and specifications of the collector were entered to the program to determine the theoretical thermal efficiency. It has been found the experimental thermal efficiency of collector is less than the theoretical one in percentage between (7-15) .So the increase in water mass flow rate leads to an increase in the thermal efficiency, and there is no significant change in thermal efficiency when the water mass flow rate becomes more than forty kilograms per hour.