[en] Highlights: • The ionization and dissociation mechanism of molecular 1,2-dichloroethane in intense laser field have been proposed. • The dissociation paths of singly charged parent ions have been determined by experiment and calculation. • The energy surface of multicharged parent ions plays a key role in momentum distribution of Coulomb explosion channel. We experimentally demonstrate the dissociative photoionization of 1,2-C₂H₄Cl₂ molecules in femtosecond laser field by time-of-flight mass spectrum and dc-slice imaging technology. Our results show the low kinetic energy components are from the dissociative ionization process of singly charged molecular ions, and the positive charge assignment are greatly influenced by the appearance energy of the fragment ions. The high kinetic energy components result from Coulomb explosion of multi-charged molecular ions, and the different angular distribution of these fragments along CC and CCl bond dissociation can be explained by the potential energy surfaces of the molecular ions.