There isn't much difference. However, notice that the word "towards" is "to + wards." Now think about words like "forward," "backward," "northward," "upward," and so on. "-ward" carries an idea of not just direction, but motion in a direction. One difference is that "to" has an extraordinary number of hard-to-define meanings, many of which don't match any meanings of "towards" at all. You can say "I gave the book to him," but you can't possibly say "I gave the book towards him." Another is that "towards" is a "preposition of motion." It's subtle, but it often conveys an idea of progress or movement. Suppose you cross a street to get to a restaurant on the other side. For safety, first you "look to the left." "To" just a direction. You don't walk to the left. You walk "towards the restaurant." The "motion" can be subtle. If I think of the phrase "look up," I just imagine someone directing their gaze in that direction. But if I think of "look upward," I think someone sweeping or scanning their gaze higher and higher and higher. Small detail #1: the word can be spelled and pronounced with an "s" at the end, "towards," or without, "toward." There's no difference. Both are correct. "Toward" is more common in the US, "towards" in the UK. Small detail #2: You can treat the "w" as silent and and just leave it out, or you can pronounce it, like "t'wards." My mom insisted that I leave it out and that pronouncing the "w" was wrong... but SHE was wrong! Dictionaries show both forms, the silent "w" being more frequent... and there might be a US/UK difference here.