“Access to affordable and clean energy” is one of the sustainable development goalsSustainable development goal (SDGs), yet around 2.4 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean and modern cooking fuels, leading to 4.3 million premature deaths annually World Health Organization (WHO)(Household Air Pollution, n.d.). About 62.5% of rural householdsRural household in India still cook with firewood, which harms the environment and public health (Census of India, Provisional population totals: Urban agglomerations and cities. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, 2011). Therefore, this study examined rural India’s transition to clean cooking fuelsClean cooking fuel, focusing on socio-economic factors influencing primary cooking fuel choices. Using two successive rounds of NFHS data at the rural householdRural household level, 2015–2016 and 2019–2021, the study used a binary logistic regressionBinary logistic regression model to determine the likelihood that rural householdsRural household would choose clean cooking fuelsClean cooking fuel like electricity, biogas, and LPGLiquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Findings showed that the use of clean cooking fuelClean cooking fuel in rural householdsRural household has significantly increased, from 24% in 2015–2016 to 43.2% in 2019–2021. As the size of the household increases, the preference for clean cooking fuelsClean cooking fuel decreases. However, female-headed, higher caste, wealthier, and more educated households are more likely to use clean cooking fuelsClean cooking fuel. The findings suggest that targeted policies promoting economic growth, educationEducation, and subsidies for clean energy can accelerate the transition to cleaner cooking energies, improving both the environment and health outcomes in rural India.