Numerical modeling results indicate that cadmium vaporization caused by nanosecond pulses of a ruby laser has a significant effect on the dynamics of phase transitions in the near-surface region of CdTe and leads to surface cooling of the material, resulting in a nonmonotonic temperature profile, with a maximum at a depth of about 20 nm. At incident energy densities above the threshold for CdTe melting, the molten zone forming below the surface layer extends both toward the surface and into the bulk of the semiconductor. Cd vaporization and the diffusion of Cd and Te in the melt give rise to tellurium enrichment in the near-surface region. Taking into account the dependences of the crystallization temperature and the latent heat of the phase transition on the Cd and Te concentrations in the melt, we achieved reasonable agreement with experimental data on the effect of incident energy density on the time during which a molten layer is present in CdTe.