The inhibition of chloride-induced pitting corrosion of type 304 stainless steel by ultraviolet light irradiation was examined. UV light exposure during passivation resulted in the pitting potential shifting in the positive direction. The induction period for pitting corrosion was analyzed in terms of a birth and death stochastic process to obtain the rate of pit generation and repassivation, respectively. The pit generation rate, lambda, was lowered by half an order of magnitude following UV light exposure during passivation, while the repassivation rate, mu, was unaffected. In contrast, UV exposure during pit generation period leads to only a very small improvement of lambda and mu. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed additional chromium enrichment in the passive film after exposure to UV light during passivation, and this is thought to be related to the suppression of the pit generation rate.