The enormous amount of energy is being consumed by buildings in an attempt to deliver thermal comfort in buildings. This paper aims at reducing/increasing the total solar heat gain through various combinations of double glazed reflective windows of buildings. The spectral characteristics of six reflective glasses namely bronze, green, grey, opal blue, sapphire blue and gold-reflective glasses at a normal angle of incidence by using UV-3600 Shimadzu spectrophotometer according to ASTM E 424 standards were experimentally measured. The solar optical properties of the glasses were deduced by developing a MATLAB code using spectral data which was obtained from experiments in the solar spectrum wavelength range of 300 nm–2500 nm. Thirty air-filled double-glazed reflective windows have been studied for both thermal and cost analysis in the Indian composite climatic zone (New Delhi 28.580 N, 77.200 E). The configuration C13 (Grey reflective glass-Air gap 10 mm-Gold reflective glass) is observed to be the best air-filled double glazed window from the highest annual cost savings ($ 79.29 per annum in SE direction) and lower payback period (1.42 years) point of views among thirty double-glazed reflective glasses studied. The results of this paper are useful in the design of sustainable passive solar buildings. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd