diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
index afc9c0586407..2ed965c332c7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
@@ -80,9 +80,12 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check datafusion-common without default features
         run: cargo check --all-targets --no-default-features -p datafusion-common
 
-      - name: Check datafusion-functions
+      - name: Check datafusion-functions without default features
         run: cargo check --all-targets --no-default-features -p datafusion-functions
 
+      - name: Check datafusion-substrait without default features
+        run: cargo check --all-targets --no-default-features -p datafusion-substrait
+
       - name: Check workspace in debug mode
         run: cargo check --all-targets --workspace
 
@@ -603,4 +606,4 @@ jobs:
         run: cargo msrv --output-format json --log-target stdout verify
       - name: Check datafusion-cli
         working-directory: datafusion-cli
-        run: cargo msrv --output-format json --log-target stdout verify
\ No newline at end of file
+        run: cargo msrv --output-format json --log-target stdout verify
diff --git a/datafusion/substrait/Cargo.toml b/datafusion/substrait/Cargo.toml
index 42fd8f9f24ab..32c69727a25b 100644
--- a/datafusion/substrait/Cargo.toml
+++ b/datafusion/substrait/Cargo.toml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ arrow-buffer = { workspace = true }
 async-recursion = "1.0"
 async-trait = { workspace = true }
 chrono = { workspace = true }
-datafusion = { workspace = true, default-features = true }
+datafusion = { workspace = true }
 itertools = { workspace = true }
 object_store = { workspace = true }
 pbjson-types = "0.7"
@@ -51,4 +51,6 @@ serde_json = "1.0"
 tokio = { workspace = true }
 
 [features]
+default = ["physical"]
+physical = ["datafusion/parquet"]
 protoc = ["substrait/protoc"]
diff --git a/datafusion/substrait/src/lib.rs b/datafusion/substrait/src/lib.rs
index 1389cac75b99..f33e86a2d20c 100644
--- a/datafusion/substrait/src/lib.rs
+++ b/datafusion/substrait/src/lib.rs
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
 //! ```
 pub mod extensions;
 pub mod logical_plan;
+#[cfg(feature = "physical")]
 pub mod physical_plan;
 pub mod serializer;
 pub mod variation_const;
diff --git a/datafusion/substrait/tests/cases/mod.rs b/datafusion/substrait/tests/cases/mod.rs
index b1f4b95df66f..777246e4139b 100644
--- a/datafusion/substrait/tests/cases/mod.rs
+++ b/datafusion/substrait/tests/cases/mod.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ mod emit_kind_tests;
 mod function_test;
 mod logical_plans;
 mod roundtrip_logical_plan;
+#[cfg(feature = "physical")]
 mod roundtrip_physical_plan;
 mod serialize;
 mod substrait_validations;