The spectroscopic changes of xanthone associated with its exit from micelles following laser excitation occur in three distinct stages. These processes are accompanied by changes in kinetic behavior and spectra. The first stage of this spectral evolution is intersystem crossing (ISC), which is followed by spectral changes in the triplet-triplet absorption spectrum that reflect an increasingly polar environment as the probe moves from the micelle interior to the micellar surface and later to the aqueous bulk phase. In the case of sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles, these three processes occur with lifetimes of 55 ps (ISC), 3.2 ns, and 0.6 mu s; the last two are assigned to diffusion toward the micelle-water interface and actual exit into the aqueous phase, respectively.