diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 20a04926eba..244139dd122 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -66,13 +66,13 @@ website-upload: doc
 docclean:
 	@-rm -f doc/node.1 doc/api.xml doc/api.html doc/changelog.html
 
-clean: docclean
+clean:
 	@$(WAF) clean
-
-distclean: docclean
-	@-rm -rf build/
 	@-find tools/ -name "*.pyc" -delete
 
+distclean: clean docclean
+	@-rm -rf build/
+
 check:
 	@tools/waf-light check