The intricate competition between coexisting charge density waves (CDWs) can lead to rich phenomena, offering unique opportunities for phase manipulation through electromagnetic stimuli. Leveraging time-resolved x-ray diffraction, we demonstrate ultrafast control of a CDW in ${\mathrm{EuTe}}_4$ upon optical excitation. At low excitation intensities, the amplitude of one of the coexisting CDW orders increases at the expense of the competing CDW, whereas at high intensities, it exhibits a nonmonotonic temporal evolution characterized by both enhancement and reduction. This transient bidirectional controllability, tunable by adjusting photoexcitation intensity, arises from the interplay between optical quenching and phase-competition-induced enhancement. Our findings, supported by phenomenological time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory simulations, not only clarify the relationship between the two CDWs in ${\mathrm{EuTe}}_4$, but also highlight the versatility of optical control over order parameters enabled by phase competition.

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• Charge density waves
• Charge order
• Ultrafast femtosecond pump probe
• X-ray diffraction