diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index dfef02189b..92feff3123 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ export BR2_VERSION_FULL := $(BR2_VERSION)$(shell $(TOPDIR)/support/scripts/setlo
 noconfig_targets := menuconfig nconfig gconfig xconfig config oldconfig randconfig \
 	defconfig %_defconfig allyesconfig allnoconfig silentoldconfig release \
 	randpackageconfig allyespackageconfig allnopackageconfig \
-	print-version olddefconfig
+	print-version olddefconfig distclean
 
 # Some global targets do not trigger a build, but are used to collect
 # metadata, or do various checks. When such targets are triggered,
@@ -905,13 +905,10 @@ clean:
 		$(LEGAL_INFO_DIR) $(GRAPHS_DIR)
 
 distclean: clean
-ifeq ($(DL_DIR),$(TOPDIR)/dl)
-	rm -rf $(DL_DIR)
-endif
 ifeq ($(O),output)
 	rm -rf $(O)
 endif
-	rm -rf $(BR2_CONFIG) $(CONFIG_DIR)/.config.old $(CONFIG_DIR)/..config.tmp \
+	rm -rf $(TOPDIR)/dl $(BR2_CONFIG) $(CONFIG_DIR)/.config.old $(CONFIG_DIR)/..config.tmp \
 		$(CONFIG_DIR)/.auto.deps $(BR2_EXTERNAL_FILE)
 
 help: