We present a femtosecond transient absorption study of chlorophyll b monomers in various solvent environments. Transient absorption spectra and kinetics of chlorophyll b were measured in neat pyridine and acetone. The kinetics were measured also for three samples of chlorophyll b dissolved in 3-methylpentane and titrated with pyridine. Characteristic for all chlorophyll b samples is a very strong excited-state absorption, which significantly affects time-resolved anisotropy values in the wavelength region of our study (600-750 nm). The excited-state absorption spectrum was simulated, and on the basis of time-resolved anisotropy measurements the broad and smooth excited-state absorption band was found to be composed of several transitions to higher excited states. For all of the chlorophyll b samples studied, we observed two fast lifetime components (similar to 100 fs and 1-3 ps). The former component is assigned to transient hole burning of the inhomogeneously broadened ground-state absorption spectrum, while the latter component, which is sensitive to properties of the solvent, is suggested to arise mainly from solvent relaxation.