Information on dissolution rates of surfactants is reviewed and discussed. One or more viscous liquidcrystalline phases form during dissolution in water of pure liquid nonionic surfactants of the linear alcoholethoxylate type, as expected from known equilibrium phase diagrams. Dissolution rates are controlled bydiffusion at temperatures below a critical solution point T C,where the aqueous micellar solution begins to separate into dilute and concentrated phases. Analysis oflinear penetration and drop dissolution experiments yields values of effective diffusion coefficients foreach phase. Once the temperature exceeds T C,solubility of surfactant in the aqueous phase falls rapidly to very low values and complete dissolutiondoes not occur. Particularly striking is formation by a swelling process at temperatures somewhatabove T C of filaments of the lamellar liquid crystallinephase known as myelinic figures. Phospholipids and other rather lipophilic surfactants also form myelinicfigures when contacted with water. A model of their growth is described and applied to the pure anionicsurfactant Aerosol OT. Using data from linear penetration experiments, one can calculate effectivediffusivities in the liquid crystalline phases (other than the myelins) and the composition of the myelins.Preferential dissolution of more hydrophilic species occurs during dissolution of drops of surfactant mixtures,causing dissolution rates to decrease as the drops become less soluble. Moreover, drop compositions canreach states where new phases form, leading to intriguing behavior such as spontaneous emulsification, anisotropicswelling, and formation of jets.