@ Sulfur and nitrogen-containing hydrocarbon feeds are upgraded by contacting said feed, at elevated temperature and in the presence of hydrogen, with a catalyst comprising a carbon-containing sulfide of a catalytic metal selected from tungsten, molybdenum and a mixture thereof. In a preferred embodiment, these catalysts are promoted with certain transition metal sulfides such as cobalt sulfide. The catalyst may be preformed or formed in-situ in the feed or from catalyst precursor salts.