Laser ablation in liquids has been established as a scalable preparation method of nanoparticles for various applications. Particularly for materials prone to oxidation, it is established to suppress oxidation by using organic solvents as a liquid medium. While this often functionalizes the nanoparticles with a carbon shell, the related chemical processes that result from laser-induced decomposition reactions of the organic solvents remain uncertain. Using a systematic series of C 6 solvents complemented by n-pentane and n-heptane during the nano-second laser ablation of gold, the present study focuses on the solvent-dependent influence on gas formation rates, nanoparticle productivity, and gas composition. Both the permanent gas and hydrogen formation was found to be linearly correlated with ablation rate, ΔH vap , and pyrolysis activation energy. Based on this, a decomposition pathway linked to pyrolysis is proposed allowing the deduction of first selection rules for solvents that influence the formation of carbon or permanent gases.