The solvent dependent photochemistry of fenofibric acid (FA) was studied by femtosecond transient absorption and nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman experiments and density functional theory calculations. In acetonitrile-rich solution, a typical nπ* triplet state FA ((3)FA) is formed through a highly efficient intersystem crossing and then the (3)FA species undergoes some reaction with water to generate a ketyl radical intermediate at low water concentrations. In contrast, nπ* (3)FA changes from a reaction with water to generate a ketyl radical intermediate at lower water concentrations to a decarboxylation reaction with the assistance of water molecules to produce a biradical intermediate at higher water concentrations in water-rich solutions. The decarboxylation reaction leads to the formation of the FA carbanion in 50% phosphate buffer solution and the FA carbanion is observed on the picosecond to nanosecond time scale and the cleavage of the FA carbanion gives rise to the enolate 3(-) anion at later nanosecond delay times. As regards fenofibrate (FB), it only exhibits a benzophenone-like photochemistry, which consists of some reaction with water to generate a ketyl radical intermediate, being observed in the different aqueous solutions.