Using a representative sample of 65 intermediate-mass galaxies at z~0.6, we have investigated the interplay between the main ingredients of chemical evolution: metal abundance, gas mass, stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR). All quantities have been estimated using deep spectroscopy and photometry from ultraviolet to infrared and assuming an inversion of the Kennicutt-Schmitt law for the gas fraction. Six billion years ago, galaxies had a mean gas fraction of 32+/-3 per cent, i.e. twice that of their local counterparts. Using higher redshift samples from the literature, we explore the gas phases and estimate the evolution of the mean gas fraction of distant galaxies over the last 11Gyr.