Methods are provided for improving the yield of distillate products from hydroprocessing of gas oil feedstocks, such as vacuum gas oils. It has been unexpectedly found that stripping of gases or fractionation to separate out a distillate fraction during initial hydrotreatment of a feed can provide a substantial increase in distillate yield at a desired amount of feedstock conversion. The improvement in yield of distillate products can allow a desired level of conversion to be performed on a feedstock for generating lubricating base oil products while reducing or minimizing the amount of naphtha (or lower) boiling range products. Alternatively, the improvement in yield of distillate products can correspond to an improved yield during a single pass through a reaction system, so that distillate yield is increased even though a lubricant boiling range product is not generated.