diff --git a/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/nvidia/nvidia_rootfs.sh b/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/nvidia/nvidia_rootfs.sh
index d6b2a8df34..330f5c43be 100644
--- a/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/nvidia/nvidia_rootfs.sh
+++ b/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/nvidia/nvidia_rootfs.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -e
-set -x
+[ -n "$DEBUG" ] && set -x
 
 readonly BUILD_DIR="/kata-containers/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/build/"
 # catch errors and then assign