Let $K$ be a field and $P=K[x_1,\dots,x_n]$. The technique of elimination by substitution is based on discovering a coherently $Z=(z_1,\dots,z_s)$-separating tuple of polynomials $(f_1,\dots,f_s)$ in an ideal $I$, i.e., on finding polynomials such that $f_i = z_i - h_i$ with $h_i \in K[X \setminus Z]$. Here we elaborate on this technique in the case when $P$ is non-negatively graded. The existence of a coherently $Z$-separating tuple is reduced to solving several $P_0$-module membership problems. Best separable re-embeddings, i.e., isomorphisms $P/I \longrightarrow K[X \setminus Z] / (I \cap K[X \setminus Z])$ with maximal $\#Z$, are found degree-by-degree. They turn out to yield optimal re-embeddings in the positively graded case. Viewing $P_0 \longrightarrow P/I$ as a fibration over an affine space, we show that its fibers allow optimal $Z$-separating re-embeddings, and we provide a criterion for a fiber to be isomorphic to an affine space. In the last section we introduce a new technique based on the solution of a unimodular matrix problem which enables us to construct automorphisms of $P$ such that additional $Z$-separating re-embeddings are possible. One of the main outcomes is an algorithm which allows us to explicitly compute a homogeneous isomorphism between $P/I$ and a non-negatively graded polynomial ring if $P/I$ is regular.

26 pages