diff --git a/src/misc/socket.cc b/src/misc/socket.cc
index 278fb5c51..a50e294bc 100644
--- a/src/misc/socket.cc
+++ b/src/misc/socket.cc
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 NCCL_PARAM(RetryCnt, "SOCKET_RETRY_CNT", 34);
 NCCL_PARAM(RetryTimeOut, "SOCKET_RETRY_SLEEP_MSEC", 100);
+NCCL_PARAM(PollTimeOut, "SOCKET_POLL_TIMEOUT_MSEC", 0);
+
 static void msleep(unsigned int time_msec) {
   const long c_1e6 = 1e6;
   struct timespec tv = (struct timespec){
@@ -25,6 +27,14 @@ static void msleep(unsigned int time_msec) {
   nanosleep(&tv, NULL);
 }
 
+static void pollSocket(int fd, int op) {
+  struct pollfd pfd;
+  pfd.fd = fd;
+  pfd.events = (op == NCCL_SOCKET_RECV) ? POLLIN : POLLOUT;
+  pfd.revents = 0;
+  poll(&pfd, 1, ncclParamPollTimeOut());
+}
+
 static ncclResult_t socketProgressOpt(int op, struct ncclSocket* sock, void* ptr, int size, int* offset, int block, int* closed) {
   int bytes = 0;
   *closed = 0;
@@ -77,8 +87,12 @@ static ncclResult_t socketProgress(int op, struct ncclSocket* sock, void* ptr, i
 }
 
 static ncclResult_t socketWait(int op, struct ncclSocket* sock, void* ptr, int size, int* offset) {
-  while (*offset < size)
+  while (*offset < size) {
     NCCLCHECK(socketProgress(op, sock, ptr, size, offset));
+    // If we have more data to read or write, use the poll system call to wait
+    // until the socket becomes readable or writable again.
+    if ((*offset < size) && ncclParamPollTimeOut()) pollSocket(sock->fd, op);
+  }
   return ncclSuccess;
 }