Photon subtraction can enhance entanglement, which for pure states induces a decrease in the purity of reduced states. In contrast, by analyzing the purities of Gaussian states before and after subtracting a single photon, we prove that the purity of a Gaussian state can also be increased by less than 20%. On the one hand, it reveals that photon subtraction can reduce entanglement, and on the other hand, it reveals that it can achieve a limited amount of Gaussian state purification. Through the analysis of some examples, we demonstrate the inherent mechanism and applicable scope of photon-subtraction-based purification. In a multimode system, we find that photon subtraction can increase entanglement and purify some of the reduced states simultaneously. We thus present purification through the suppression of Gaussian noise as a new application for photon subtraction in continuous-variable quantum information processing.