A lift-off method includes a dividing step of dividing a buffer layer and an optical device layer stacked on a front side of a substrate to thereby form separate buffer layers and separate optical device layers, a transfer member bonding step of bonding a transfer member to a front side of the separate optical device layers, a buffer layer breaking step of applying a pulsed laser beam to the separate buffer layers to thereby break the separate buffer layers, and an optical device layer transferring step of transferring the separate optical device layers from the substrate to the transfer member. An energy density of each pulse of the pulsed laser beam is set to 1.0 to 5.0 mJ/mm2.