Photon stimulated desorption of KI has been measured at several temperatures between 300 K and 485 K using photons in the energy region around the fundamental absorption threshold of KI. The yield spectra vs photon energy of the emission of potassium and iodine atoms are very similar to each other and show a weak structure near threshold, in correspondence of the main exciton absorption peak, followed by a smooth exponential increase, unrelated with the higher energy absorption features of KI. The time dependence of the desorption signal of potassium atoms, measured after turning either on or off the radiation beam, shows the existence of two simultaneous processes with completely different time constants: a ‘fast’ process with a time constant shorter than our time resolution of 0.5 s, and a ‘slow’ process with a time constant of several seconds. The intensity of the slow process is strong at low temperatures and in the region of the main exciton absorption peak, and becomes negligeable at high temperatures or in the region of the interband transitions.