diff --git a/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake b/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake
index 8182bc470a..cfd5db7723 100644
--- a/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake
+++ b/cmake/onnxruntime_python.cmake
@@ -154,9 +154,19 @@ if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_EAGER_MODE OR onnxruntime_ENABLE_LAZY_TENSOR)
     "${REPO_ROOT}/cmake/external/protobuf/src"
     ${TORCH_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
+  if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_EAGER_MODE)
+    # For eager mode, torch build has a mkl dependency from torch's cmake config,
+    # Linking to torch libraries to avoid this unnecessary mkl dependency.
+    target_include_directories(onnxruntime_pybind11_state PRIVATE "${TORCH_INSTALL_PREFIX}/include" "${TORCH_INSTALL_PREFIX}/include/torch/csrc/api/include")
+    find_library(LIBTORCH_LIBRARY torch PATHS "${TORCH_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib")
+    find_library(LIBTORCH_CPU_LIBRARY torch_cpu PATHS "${TORCH_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib")
+    find_library(LIBC10_LIBRARY c10 PATHS "${TORCH_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib")
+    target_link_libraries(onnxruntime_pybind11_state PRIVATE ${LIBTORCH_LIBRARY} ${LIBTORCH_CPU_LIBRARY} ${LIBC10_LIBRARY})
+  endif()
+
   # Explicitly link torch_python to workaround https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/issues/38122#issuecomment-694203281
   find_library(TORCH_PYTHON_LIBRARY torch_python PATHS "${TORCH_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib")
-  target_link_libraries(onnxruntime_pybind11_state PRIVATE ${TORCH_PYTHON_LIBRARY} ${TORCH_LIBRARIES})
+  target_link_libraries(onnxruntime_pybind11_state PRIVATE ${TORCH_PYTHON_LIBRARY})
   if (onnxruntime_ENABLE_EAGER_MODE)
     target_link_libraries(onnxruntime_pybind11_state PRIVATE onnxruntime_eager)
   endif()