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• An improved gaining-sharing knowledge-based algorithm named MSGSK is proposed. • A parameter adjustment strategy is developed to adjust relative parameters of MSGSK. • A backtracking differential mutation strategy is designed to enrich the population diversity. • A strategy selection mechanism is presented to integrate the former two strategies. • MSGSK extracts more accurate parameters for five PV models. The determination of photovoltaic (PV) model parameters has essential theoretical and practical significance for the performance evaluation, power monitoring, and power generation efficiency calculation of PV systems. In this paper, a multi-strategy gaining-sharing knowledge-based algorithm (MSGSK) is developed to determine these parameters. In our previous work, it has been demonstrated that gaining-sharing knowledge-based algorithm (GSK) is well suited for solving the concerned problem. To enhance its performance, a parameter adjustment strategy is developed to adjust the knowledge rate and knowledge ratio of GSK. Besides, a backtracking differential mutation strategy by combining the mutation scheme of differential evolution and the updating scheme of backtracking search optimization algorithm is developed to enrich the population diversity. Furthermore, a strategy selection mechanism is introduced to integrate the former two strategies to balance exploration and exploitation in different stages of the evolutionary process. The suggested MSGSK algorithm is applied to five PV cases (SDM, DDM, Photowatt-PW201, STM6-40/36, and STP6-120/36). From the experimental data, it can be observed that MSGSK extracts the PV model parameters more precisely than the basic GSK. Furthermore, it exhibits faster convergence speed and higher accuracy compared to other advanced algorithms found in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]