A process for making high cetane diesel. The process includes contacting a distillate feedstock in a hydrodenitrogenation and polyaromatics saturation zone and passing the resulting treated effluent to a high pressure stripping zone. The stripped liquid fraction from the high pressure stripping zone is contacted with a base metal catalyst under monoaromatics saturation conditions to yield a reactor product. The reactor product undergoes a separation to provide a hydrogen portion and a dearomatized distillate portion with the hydrogen portion being recycled and introduced into the high pressure stripping zone.