diff --git a/cmake/onnxruntime_graph.cmake b/cmake/onnxruntime_graph.cmake
index 25ee83d15f..0e4a7e004d 100644
--- a/cmake/onnxruntime_graph.cmake
+++ b/cmake/onnxruntime_graph.cmake
@@ -60,6 +60,12 @@ file(GLOB_RECURSE onnxruntime_ir_defs_src CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
   "${ONNXRUNTIME_ROOT}/core/defs/*.cc"
 )
 
+if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS AND NOT onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING)
+  set(orttraining_graph_src
+      "${ORTTRAINING_SOURCE_DIR}/core/graph/training_op_defs.cc"
+      "${ORTTRAINING_SOURCE_DIR}/core/graph/training_op_defs.h"
+      )
+endif()
 if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING)
   file(GLOB_RECURSE orttraining_graph_src CONFIGURE_DEPENDS
       "${ORTTRAINING_SOURCE_DIR}/core/graph/*.h"
@@ -68,7 +74,7 @@ if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING)
 endif()
 
 set(onnxruntime_graph_lib_src ${onnxruntime_graph_src} ${onnxruntime_ir_defs_src})
-if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING)
+if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING OR onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
     list(APPEND onnxruntime_graph_lib_src ${orttraining_graph_src})
 endif()
 
@@ -83,7 +89,7 @@ endif()
 
 target_include_directories(onnxruntime_graph PRIVATE ${ONNXRUNTIME_ROOT})
 
-if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING)
+if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING OR onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
     target_include_directories(onnxruntime_graph PRIVATE ${ORTTRAINING_ROOT})
 
     if (onnxruntime_USE_NCCL)
@@ -95,7 +101,7 @@ set_target_properties(onnxruntime_graph PROPERTIES FOLDER "ONNXRuntime")
 set_target_properties(onnxruntime_graph PROPERTIES LINKER_LANGUAGE CXX)
 install(DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/../include/onnxruntime/core/graph  DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}/onnxruntime/core)
 source_group(TREE ${REPO_ROOT} FILES ${onnxruntime_graph_src} ${onnxruntime_ir_defs_src})
-if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING)
+if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING OR onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
     source_group(TREE ${ORTTRAINING_ROOT} FILES ${orttraining_graph_src})
 endif()
 
diff --git a/cmake/onnxruntime_session.cmake b/cmake/onnxruntime_session.cmake
index 564dc53dfe..4850d48c0a 100644
--- a/cmake/onnxruntime_session.cmake
+++ b/cmake/onnxruntime_session.cmake
@@ -22,6 +22,6 @@ set_target_properties(onnxruntime_session PROPERTIES FOLDER "ONNXRuntime")
 if (onnxruntime_USE_CUDA)
   target_include_directories(onnxruntime_session PRIVATE ${onnxruntime_CUDNN_HOME}/include ${CMAKE_CUDA_TOOLKIT_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES})
 endif()
-if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING)
+if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING OR onnxruntime_ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
   target_include_directories(onnxruntime_session PRIVATE ${ORTTRAINING_ROOT})
 endif()
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/session/environment.cc b/onnxruntime/core/session/environment.cc
index 3bd28d630a..07636bbc15 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/session/environment.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/session/environment.cc
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #if !defined(ORT_MINIMAL_BUILD)
 #include "onnx/defs/operator_sets.h"
 #include "onnx/defs/operator_sets_ml.h"
-#if defined(ENABLE_TRAINING)
+#if defined(ENABLE_TRAINING) || defined(ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
 #include "onnx/defs/operator_sets_training.h"
 #endif
 #endif
@@ -30,8 +30,10 @@
 #include "core/platform/tracing.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifdef ENABLE_TRAINING
+#if defined(ENABLE_TRAINING) || defined(ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
 #include "orttraining/core/graph/training_op_defs.h"
+#endif
+#ifdef ENABLE_TRAINING
 #include "orttraining/core/graph/gradient_builder_registry.h"
 #include "orttraining/core/graph/loss_function_registry.h"
 #include "orttraining/core/graph/optimizer_builder.h"
@@ -180,17 +182,20 @@ Status Environment::Initialize(std::unique_ptr<logging::LoggingManager> logging_
       RegisterOnnxMLOperatorSetSchema();
 #endif
 
-#ifdef ENABLE_TRAINING
+#if defined(ENABLE_TRAINING) || defined(ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
       RegisterOnnxTrainingOperatorSetSchema();
 #endif
 
-#ifdef ENABLE_TRAINING
-      // preserve this order: this depends on operatorsetschema registration.
+#if defined(ENABLE_TRAINING) || defined(ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
+      // preserve this order until <training schemas>: this depends on operatorsetschema registration.
       training::RegisterTrainingOpSchemas();
+#endif
+#ifdef ENABLE_TRAINING
       training::GradientBuilderRegistry::GetInstance().RegisterGradientBuilders();
       training::LossFunctionRegistry::GetInstance().RegisterNonOperatorLossFunctions();
       training::OptimizerBuilderRegistry::GetInstance().RegisterBuilders();
       training::OptimizerGraphBuilderRegistry::GetInstance().RegisterGraphBuilders();
+      // <training schemas>
 #endif
     });
 
diff --git a/onnxruntime/test/providers/cpu/activation/activation_op_test.cc b/onnxruntime/test/providers/cpu/activation/activation_op_test.cc
index 104e62e62e..d49726619b 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/test/providers/cpu/activation/activation_op_test.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/test/providers/cpu/activation/activation_op_test.cc
@@ -7,6 +7,55 @@
 namespace onnxruntime {
 namespace test {
 
+#if defined(ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
+namespace {
+void TestElementwiseGradientOp(
+    const char* op,
+    const std::vector<std::pair<std::string, std::vector<float>>>& inputs,
+    std::function<float(const std::vector<float>&)> expected_func,
+    const std::unordered_map<std::string, float> attrs = {},
+    int opset_version = 7, const char* domain = kOnnxDomain) {
+  const auto first_input = inputs.begin();
+  ASSERT_NE(first_input, inputs.end());
+  for (auto input = first_input; input != inputs.end(); ++input) {
+    if (input == first_input) continue;
+    ASSERT_EQ(first_input->second.size(), input->second.size());
+  }
+
+  OpTester test(op, opset_version, domain);
+
+  for (auto attr : attrs) {
+    test.AddAttribute(attr.first, attr.second);
+  }
+
+  const auto input_size = first_input->second.size();
+  std::vector<int64_t> dims{static_cast<int64_t>(input_size)};
+
+  std::vector<float> expected_vals;
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < input_size; i++) {
+    std::vector<float> params(inputs.size());
+    std::transform(
+        inputs.begin(), inputs.end(), params.begin(),
+        [i](const std::pair<std::string, std::vector<float>>& input) {
+          return input.second[i];
+        });
+    expected_vals.push_back(expected_func(params));
+  }
+
+  for (const auto& input : inputs) {
+    test.AddInput<float>(input.first.c_str(), dims, input.second);
+  }
+  test.AddOutput<float>("dX", dims, expected_vals);
+
+  test.Run(OpTester::ExpectResult::kExpectSuccess, "", {});
+}
+
+float ReluGrad(float dy, float x) {
+  return x > 0 ? dy : 0;
+}
+}
+#endif
+
 TEST_F(ActivationOpTest, Sigmoid) {
   TestActivationOp<float>("Sigmoid",
                           input_values,
@@ -210,5 +259,23 @@ TEST_F(ActivationOpNoInfTest, Softsign) {
       {}, false);  // Disable TensorRT because result mismatches
 }
 
+#if defined(ENABLE_TRAINING_OPS)
+TEST(ReluGradInferenceTest, Basic) {
+  const std::vector<float> x_vals = {-1.0f, 0, 1.0f, 100.0f, -100.0f, 1000.0f, -1000.0f};
+  const std::vector<float> dY(7, 1.0f);
+
+  TestElementwiseGradientOp(
+      "ReluGrad",
+      {{"dY", dY}, {"X", x_vals}},
+      [](const std::vector<float>& params) {
+        ORT_ENFORCE(params.size() == 2);
+        const auto dy = params[0], x = params[1];
+
+        return ReluGrad(dy, x);
+      },
+      {}, 1, kMSDomain);
+}
+#endif
+
 }  // namespace test
 }  // namespace onnxruntime