PURPOSE: To execute rapid processing by using a fixer formed by not using a water-soluble aluminum salt or using a light slight amt. thereof in case of use for the purpose of preventing the generation of smells and gases and decreasing an amt. for replenishment.

CONSTITUTION: The fixer contg. the water-soluble aluminum salt not over 0.01 mol/litter and having 4.8 to 7.5 pH is used. A drying section 45 of an automatic development 45 have plural heat rollers 50 heated at their outer peripheries by heat sources. The front and rear surfaces of a photosensitive material 14 are alternately wound around the respective heat rollers 50, by which the photosensitive material 14 is heated and the moisture is evaporated from the photosensitive material surfaces without contact with the heat rollers 50 and the photosensitive material is thus dried.