Emergency services were called to the Wearmouth Bridge in the early hours following concerns for a man on the wrong side of the railings.
Police were called to the scene at around 5.30am to reports of a man in distress.
Sunderland RNLI were also called shortly before 7am with volunteers launching the D-Class inshore lifeboat.
Specialist officers spoke with the man who was brought to safety just after 8am.
A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said: "Shortly after 5.30am today (Friday) we received a received a report of concern for a male on Wearmouth Bridge, Sunderland.
"Officers and emergency services attended and the male was brought to safety shortly after 8am."
A Sunderland RNLI spokesman said: "We were called to support Northumbria Police with an incident on Wearmouth Bridge.
"Our volunteers were paged at 6.52am and launched the D-Class inshore lifeboat shortly after.
"The incident was successfully resolved at 8.43am when we were stood down and cleared to return to station."
