This paper proposes an effective method for very accurate parameter estimation of single- and double-diode solar cell models. For this purpose, unknown parameters of model are estimated by minimization of an objective function using a new highly effective modified version of artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm. The proposed algorithm is used for parameter estimation of single- and double-diode models and the results are compared, from different aspects, with recently developed related works (including those applied GA, CPSO, PS, SA, IGHS, ABSO, ABC, GGHS, and IADE for this purpose). The proposed algorithm is also compared with other modified explanations of ABC algorithm. The results show that the proposed strategy is considerably faster and more accurate compared to all the previous studies.