A CI/CD pipeline streamlines software development by automating the process of integration, testing, and deployment. CI (Continuous Integration) ensures that code changes are regularly merged and tested, allowing developers to detect issues early. CD (Continuous Deployment) automates the release process, meaning that code can be deployed to production quickly and repeatedly. This reduces the risk of errors, enhances collaboration among team members, and accelerates the delivery of new features or fixes to end-users, thereby enhancing overall productivity.