Mechanical pulps are widely used in the manufacture of printing paper grades and also to a lesser extent in packaging materials and hygiene products. An advantage of mechanical pulps in general is the high yield (95‐97%) of the production processes, which implies a resource efficient way of producing fibre‐based products. A major drawback when producing mechanical pulps for printing qualities is the high electric energy consumption needed. However, the mechanical action associated with the liberation of fibres from the wood matrix can be facilitated if the middle lamella lignin is softened, leading to lower energy input and less fibre damages. The lignin can be softened by chemicals and high process temperatures, like in the chemi‐thermomechanical process (CTMP) and the high‐temperature‐chemi‐thermomechanical process (HT‐CTMP), where sodium sulphite is utilized. The pulps from these processes are best suited for packaging materials and tissue products. In this study, an alternate chemical treatment using deep eutectic solvents (DES) was explored. The DES used was bio‐based, non‐toxic, non‐corrosive, and could be recycled. The main goal was to facilitate the refining process and possibly create a new quality of mechanical pulp, not to remove lignin or hemicellulose. Wood chips were pre‐steamed and then soaked in DES, to ensure a sufficient impregnation. The conditions of the DES treatment were much less severe than those of a chemical pulping process, i.e. low temperature, neutral or nearly‐neutral pH, and a short residence time. The excess DES was removed by washing the chips with water before the chips where fed into a refiner. According to fibre quality analyses, the DES‐treated fibres were longer and less damaged than the control. The DES‐treated fibres also demonstrated significantly higher dewatering capacity than fibres without DES‐treatment produced at the same specific energy input in the refiner. These facts indicate that the fractures during fibre liberation to a higher extent occurred in the middle lamella, similar to when producing CTMP. A maintained high yield of the DES‐treated pulp was confirmed by chemical analysis. In conclusion, this initial study show that DES‐assisted mechanical pulping appears to be an interesting alternative for producing a mechanical pulp with different fibre properties. An aim for future work would be to tailor the DES‐treatment to alter fibre properties in a more controlled manner preferably so that market shares could be taken from the today dominating low‐yield (<50%) processes.