A microparticle dispersion liquid manufacturing apparatus 10 includes a controller 11, a light source 12, an irradiation optical system 13, and a container 14. A solid object 1 is contained in and a solvent 2 is injected into an interior of the container 14 to enable attainment of a state where the solid object 1 is in contact with the solvent 2. The light source 12 repeatedly outputs pulsed light. By repeatedly irradiating the solvent 2 with the pulsed light from the light source 12, expansion and contraction of the solvent 2 is made to occur repeatedly at the irradiated portion, thereby generating a pressure wave in the solvent 2, and the pressure wave is made to act on the solid object 1 to finely pulverize the solid object 1 and thereby manufacture a microparticle dispersion liquid in which microparticles are dispersed in the solvent. A microparticle dispersion liquid manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus are thereby realized by which both suppression of impurity formation and an increase in efficiency of microparticle formation can be achieved readily.