diff --git a/lib/bolt/inventory/inventory.rb b/lib/bolt/inventory/inventory.rb
index 54d67b387..8500cc4ca 100644
--- a/lib/bolt/inventory/inventory.rb
+++ b/lib/bolt/inventory/inventory.rb
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ class Inventory
       EXTENDED_TARGET_REGEX = /[[:space:],]+(?=[^\]}]*(?:[\[{]|$))/.freeze
       TARGET_REGEX          = /[[:space:],]+/.freeze
 
+      # Pattern which looks for indicators that glob-based target name matching
+      # should be used.
+      GLOB_MATCH_REGEX      = /[*?\[\]{}]/.freeze
+
       class WildcardError < Bolt::Error
         def initialize(target)
           super("Found 0 targets matching wildcard pattern #{target}", 'bolt.inventory/wildcard-error')
@@ -125,12 +129,18 @@ def match_wildcard?(wildcard, target_name, ext_glob: false)
 
       # If target is a group name, expand it to the members of that group.
       # Else match against groups and targets in inventory by name or alias.
-      # If a wildcard string, error if no matches are found.
+      # Attempt exact matches for groups, targets, and aliases first for speed.
+      # If no exact match and the string contains wildcard characters, then try
+      # for a wildcard match and error if no matches are found.
       # Else fall back to [target] if no matches are found.
       def resolve_name(target, ext_glob: false)
         if (group = group_lookup[target])
           group.all_targets.to_a
-        else
+        elsif @targets.key?(target)
+          [target]
+        elsif (real_target = groups.target_aliases[target])
+          [real_target]
+        elsif GLOB_MATCH_REGEX.match?(target)
           targets = []
 
           # Find groups that match the glob
@@ -147,12 +157,11 @@ def resolve_name(target, ext_glob: false)
                            .select { |tgt_alias, _| match_wildcard?(target, tgt_alias, ext_glob: ext_glob) }
                            .values
 
-          if targets.empty?
-            raise(WildcardError, target) if target.include?('*')
-            [target]
-          else
-            targets.uniq
-          end
+          raise(WildcardError, target) if targets.empty?
+
+          targets.uniq
+        else
+          [target]
         end
       end
       private :resolve_name