Water in the presence of electrolytes plays an important role in biological and industrial processes. The properties of water, such as the intermolecular coupling, Fermi resonance (FR), hydrogen-bonding, and Raman cross section were investigated by measuring the Raman spectra in the OD and OH stretch regions in presence of alkali halides (NaX; X = F, Cl, Br, I). It is observed that the changes in spectral characteristics by the addition of NaX in D2O are similar to those obtained by the addition of H2O in D2O. The spectral width decreases significantly by the addition of NaX in D2O (H2O) than that in the isotopically diluted water. Quantitative estimation, on the basis of integrated Raman intensity, revealed that the relative Raman cross section, sigma(H)/sigma(b) (sigma(H) and sigma(b) are the average Raman cross section of water in the first hydration shell of X- and in bulk, respectively), in D2O and H2O is higher than those in the respective isotopically diluted water. These results suggest that water in the hydration shell has reduced FR and intermolecular coupling compared to those in bulk. In the isotopically diluted water, the relative Raman cross section increases with increase in size of the halide ions (sigma(H)/sigma(b) = 0.6, 1.1, 1.5, and 1.9 for F-, Cl-, Br-, and I-, respectively), which is assignable to the enhancement of Raman cross section by charge transfer from halide ions to the hydrating water. Nevertheless, the experimentally determined sigma(H)/sigma(b) is lower than the calculated values obtained on the basis of the energy of the charge transfer state of water. The weak enhancement of sigma(H)/sigma(b) signifies that the charge transfer transition in the hydration shell of halide ions causes little change in the OD (OH) bond lengths of hydrating water.