A process is disclosed for selectively producing one or more aromatic compounds selected from benzene, toluene, para-xylene, meta-xylene, ortho-xylene, ethylbenzene and mixtures thereof from a feed containing C.sub.6 C.sub.20 hydrocarbons and/or C.sub.6 C.sub.8 alcohols. The feed is initially subjected to a chemical conversion step to increase the concentration of C.sub.6 C.sub.8 paraffin and/or olefin precursors of said one or more aromatic compounds and then resulting precursor-enriched feed is then contacted with a dehydrocyclization catalyst under conditions of temperature and hydrogen partial pressure sufficient to effect dehydrocyclization of said paraffin and/or olefin precursors. A product rich in the desired aromatic compound(s) can then be recovered from the dehydrocyclization effluent.