Herein, the generation of Hermite-Gaussian beams using a spatial light modulator was experimentally investigated and the relation between mode conversion efficiency and transverse distribution of the input beam was theoretically analyzed. High-quality Hermit-Gaussian beams with HG6,0, HG8,0, and HG10,0 modes, whose purity was 96.2%, 94.9%, and 93.4%, respectively, were experimentally generated using the optimum input beam with an elliptical transverse distribution. Moreover, the 217-mW HG10,0 mode was obtained and the mode conversion efficiency reached 14.45%, which is 5.6 times higher than that of the traditional input beam with fundamental Gaussian mode. The generation method of Hermite-Gaussian beam with high quality and efficiency has promising application potentials in the precision measurement of small displacement and preparation of a high-order spatial squeezed light field.