Heat from the sun warms the oceans and condenses water into the air. Winds blow this water laden air to other parts of the world. As the water laden air encounters colder temperatures, it condenses into fluffy, white clouds. Eventually, these clouds are blown over land. Rain occurs when these clouds are blown into mountains. The air that is saturated with water bunches up as it's pressed up against the mountains. A measurable point is reached where the air can't keep the water atomized and it begins to accumulate into water droplets. Rain falls, water flows downhill, and eventually that water rejoins the ocean and repeats the process.
This process is repeatable in a lab, and in some interesting cases, an artist's studio. Here's a photograph of a cloud that an artist has made inside of a room using a smoke machine and heavily condensed air. The artist uses a squirt bottle to atomize water into the air. The smoke machine puffs out smoke and the water and particles of smoke adhere together to make clouds. The lighting in this studio makes it even more impressive:
The artist's name is Berndnaut Smilde. His website can be found here: http://www.berndnaut.nl/works.htm
Humans have been making artificial clouds for about 70 years by injecting silver iodide into the upper atmosphere. The presence of this chemical fosters the accumulation of water droplets and increases rainfall. People do this for a variety of reasons: foil warplanes, increase irrigation for crops, provide shade for World Cup tournaments, etc. Other chemicals work, as well, like strontium, but silver iodide is the most common.
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