The spent hydroprocessing catalyst from conversion of bitumen was extracted with hydrotreated gas oil, tetralin and tetralin-pyrene as solvents at 400 degrees C and 10 MPa hydrogen pressure in order to remove coke and rejuvennate catalyst activity. The reactive extraction of solvents partially removed the coke on catalyst with the order of effectiveness: gas oil < tetralin < tetralin-pyrene. Tetralin showed higher ability than the gas oil for the coke removal by donating hydrogen in situ to hydrogenate the coke. Binary tetralin/pyrene solvent mixture gave synergism for removing coke on the catalyst due to the ability of pyrene to shuttle hydrogen to form more active H-donors, hydropyrenes. HDS activity of the spent catalyst was enhanced after the coke removal.