The invention concerns a process for the separation of a mixture comprising ethylene, 1-butene, alpha-olefins containing at least 6 carbon atoms per molecule and possibly heavier hydrocarbon products, the ethylene content of the mixture being in the range 30% to 70% by weight, in which separation is effected in a distillation zone to obtain an overhead fraction comprising the major portion of the ethylene present in the mixture and between 0% and 100% by weight of the 1-butene present in the mixture, the process being characterized in that the zone is also supplied with supplemental 1-butene in an amount in the range 1 to 40 times the quantity (by weight) of 1-butene present in the mixture. In a preferred implementation of the process of the invention, the mixture originates form a homogenous liquid phase ethylene oligomerisation zone.