Experiments have been performed to investigate the key parameters determining the performance of thermoelectric power generation. The experimental results obtained show that the power output significantly increases with the temperature difference between cold and hot sides of thermoelectric generator. However, the effect of the hot side temperature under the identical temperature difference on the overall performance of a thermoelectric generator is meager. The conversion efficiency defined as the ratio of the power generated to the heat absorbed at the hot side increases with the temperature difference. The behavior of the thermoelectric generator is shown to be consistent with the theoretical analysis. The optimum current giving the maximum conversion efficiency and the maximum conversion efficiency are linearly increased with the temperature difference.