Quality begins with the recording environment. Professional studios take great care to insure proper acoustics and isolation from external noise sources, such as traffic and loud neighbors. The location should have acoustic qualities that enhance, not distract from the music. A recording studio has a collection of the highest quality microphones with specific microphones selected for specific applications. An experienced recording engineer will understand the need to maintain the lowest possible noise in the audio signal path, by eliminating grounding loops and choosing recording components that produce very little noise. Finally, choose professional audio production software like Pro Tools or Adobe Audition as the centerpiece of a digital audio workstation (DAW). This computer system will provide the needed features for multi-track recording and effects creation.
Even though you can technically accomplish all of the tasks required to produce your own CD, you should consider involving others. Self-produced CDs often suffer from a musician who is hyper sensitive in some areas, while neglecting others. The "one man band" approach to recording leaves you vulnerable to blind spots in product quality. Consider hiring a recording engineer who knows how to capture the highest quality recordings. The engineer will relieve musicians from the burden of having to provide technical solutions and free them to focus on their music. Choose a producer who will "shoot straight" about the music performances and choice of effects and instrumentation. The producer should be someone you trust to represent the "gold standard" of what makes for a good final product. An effective producer will maintain a sense of perspective in the development of the project after others may have lost theirs.
Once you have the master CD recorded, the final step is distribution. Anyone can purchase a multi-bay CD duplicator for a few hundred dollars. This cheap and easy solution would appear to make the most sense if money is tight. Add a CD label or on-disc printer, and you can pump out as many copies as you want using recordable CDs. However, this is not the professional solution and will severely limit your distribution options. Professional CDs are replicated, not duplicated. Replication involves using a glass master to publish CDs to non-recordable CD media as is used on commercially-released CDs. Add to the replication process professionally produced album artwork with UPC bar codes and shrink wrapped jewel cases, and you will have a truly professional product.