In this paper we describe the mechanism of the photodissociation of CBr4 in various solvents. We have monitored and identified the intermediate species and determined the growth and decay rates of the excited states and metastable species formed during the photodissociation process by means of ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy. On the basis of the experimental data presented in this paper, the observed transient spectra and species have been assigned to the stabilized solvated ion pair (CBr3+//Br-)(solv).