This research was conducted to determine the effect of placing a bluff body having a diameter of d = 88 mm in the form of a circular cylinder, I-65 cylinder and I-53 cylinder in the upstream area of returning Savonius turbine blade. The study is experimentally done in an open lab using an axial fan as the source of the wind blowing in a wind speed of U = 7 m/s equivalent to the Reynolds number (Re) = 1.34 × 105 (based on wind speed U and characteristic length, L). The turbine has a blade diameter (D) of 165.2 mm and a height (h) of 295 mm. The bluff bodies, having a diameter of 0.5 times that a blade diameter, is installed upstream of returning turbine blade, with varying the ratio of the bluff body distance in the Y axis relative to the centre of returning turbine blade to the turbine diameter (Y/D) + 0.5; + 0.25; 0; −0.25; −0.5. The distance between the bluff body cylinder to the centre of the returning turbine blade is set to S/D = 1.4. The experiment result shows that the installation of the bluff body upstream of the returning blade at the position of Y/D of +0.5; +0.25; 0, −0.25 can increase the performance of the turbine, while at Y/D = −0.5, the turbine’ performance is reduced. Improvement in wind turbine performance is indicated by the increase of the coefficient power (Cp) of the turbine with the bluff body compared to the conventional Savonius wind turbine. The maximum power coefficient (Cp) observed in the Savonius turbine equipped with an I-65° type cylinder and the Y = 0.25 increases to 31.08% compared to the conventional turbine. These excellent results of the experiment are obtained for a Tip Speed Ratio (λ) of 0.61.