Aromatic nitration is effectively carried out by the deliberate irradiation of the charge‐transfer absorption band (hvCT) of the transient electron donor–acceptor complex [ArH, NO2Y+], where NO2Y+ represents common nitrating agents. Time‐resolved spectroscopy demonstrates that the charge‐transfer nitration effected in this way proceeds via an electron‐transfer mechanism, in which the collapse of the reactive triad, [ArH+ ·, NO 2·, Y] is critical to the formation of the Wheland intermediate. Comparative product analyses of toluene and anisole nitrations together with the ‘non‐conventional’ products arising from NO+ catalysis, ipso attack and addition/elimination show that the activation process leading to charge‐transfer (photochemical) nitration is indistinguishable from that leading to electrophilic (thermal) aromatic nitration.