diff --git a/components/esp_eth/Kconfig b/components/esp_eth/Kconfig
index 9780b1bf48..cba7514fd1 100644
--- a/components/esp_eth/Kconfig
+++ b/components/esp_eth/Kconfig
@@ -102,6 +102,18 @@ menu "Ethernet"
             help
                 Number of DMA transmit buffers. Each buffer's size is ETH_DMA_BUFFER_SIZE.
                 Larger number of buffers could increase throughput somehow.
+
+        if ETH_DMA_RX_BUFFER_NUM > 15
+            config ETH_SOFT_FLOW_CONTROL
+                bool "Enable software flow control"
+                default n
+                help
+                    Ethernet MAC engine on ESP32 doesn't feature a flow control logic.
+                    The MAC driver can perform a software flow control if you enable this option.
+                    Note that, if the RX buffer number is small, enabling software flow control will
+                    cause obvious performance loss.
+        endif
+
     endif # ETH_USE_ESP32_EMAC
 
     menuconfig ETH_USE_SPI_ETHERNET
diff --git a/components/esp_eth/src/esp_eth_mac_esp32.c b/components/esp_eth/src/esp_eth_mac_esp32.c
index 47f05e68e4..45d99788d0 100644
--- a/components/esp_eth/src/esp_eth_mac_esp32.c
+++ b/components/esp_eth/src/esp_eth_mac_esp32.c
@@ -299,12 +299,14 @@ static void emac_esp32_rx_task(void *arg)
             } else {
                 free(buffer);
             }
+#if CONFIG_ETH_SOFT_FLOW_CONTROL
             // we need to do extra checking of remained frames in case there are no unhandled frames left, but pause frame is still undergoing
             if ((emac->free_rx_descriptor < emac->flow_control_low_water_mark) && emac->do_flow_ctrl && emac->frames_remain) {
                 emac_hal_send_pause_frame(&emac->hal, true);
             } else if ((emac->free_rx_descriptor > emac->flow_control_high_water_mark) || !emac->frames_remain) {
                 emac_hal_send_pause_frame(&emac->hal, false);
             }
+#endif
         } while (emac->frames_remain);
     }
     vTaskDelete(NULL);