A new refining process-hydrodearylation-that provides value creation to a refinery aromatic recovery complex is presented. An aromatic reject stream containing heavy alkyl-bridged noncondensed multi-aromatics from an aromatic recovery complex is processed over a zeolite-containing hydrocracking catalyst to recover high-value mono-aromatics including benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX). The use of the heavy aromatic bottom stream is limited as a gasoline blending component because of its high density, dark color, and high final boiling point. The hydrodearylation process upgrades the low-value stream containing bridged di-aromatics to significantly enhance high-value mono-aromatic content. Additionally, the process improves the color of the stream from a dark brown/reddish color to a light yellow color together with an observed 3.5% drop in density that improves volume swell. Two-dimensional gas chromatography confirms mono-aromatic formation as a result of di-aromatic conversion with a 15 wt % absolute increase in the mono-aromatic content (>5 wt % BTX) at optimum reaction conditions. Similarly, a 75% reduction in di-aromatics is observed. The mono-aromatics formed may be further processed downstream to add value by yielding additional BTX.