A processing system having multilevel cache employs techniques for identifying and selecting valid candidate cache lines for eviction from a lower level cache of an inclusive cache hierarchy, so as to reduce invalidations resulting from an eviction of a cache line in a lower level cache that also resides in a higher level cache. In response to an eviction trigger for a lower level cache, a cache controller identifies candidate cache lines for eviction from the cache lines residing in the lower level cache based on the replacement policy. The cache controller uses residency metadata to identify the candidate cache line as a valid candidate if it does not also reside in the higher cache and as an invalid candidate if it does reside in the higher cache. The cache controller prevents eviction of invalid candidates, so as to avoid unnecessary invalidations in the higher cache while maintaining inclusiveness.