most efficient AABB vs Ray collision algorithms

Is there a known 'most efficient' algorithm for AABB vs Ray collision detection?

I recently stumbled accross Arvo's AABB vs Sphere collision algorithm, and I am wondering if there is a similarly noteworthy algorithm for this.

One must have condition for this algorithm is that I need to have the option of querying the result for the distance from the ray's origin to the point of collision. having said this, if there is another, faster algorithm which does not return distance, then in addition to posting one that does, also posting that algorithm would be very helpful indeed.

Please also state what the function's return argument is, and how you use it to return distance or a 'no-collision' case. For example, does it have an out parameter for the distance as well as a bool return value? or does it simply return a float with the distance, vs a value of -1 for no collision?

(For those that don't know: AABB = Axis Aligned Bounding Box)

Answer

Andrew Woo, who along with John Amanatides developed the raymarching algorithm (DDA) used ubiquitously in raytracers, wrote "Fast Ray-Box Intersection" (alternative source here) which was published in Graphics Gems, 1990, pp. 395-396. Rather than being built specifically for integration through a grid (eg. a voxel volume) as DDA is (see zacharmarz' answer), this algorithm is specifically suited to worlds that are not evenly subdivided, such as your typical polyhedra world found in most 3D games.

The approach provides support for 3D, and optionally does backface culling. The algorithm is derived from the same principles of integration used in DDAs, so it is very quick. More detail can be found in the original Graphics Gems volume (1990).

Many other approaches specifically for Ray-AABB to be found at realtimerendering.com.

EDIT: An alternative, branchless approach -- which would be desirable on both GPU & CPU -- may be found here. The actual code, including the max() on the return test, is available here.