diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.c
index 43428ce760ca..2b181762ad49 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.c
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ static void nicvf_free_q_desc_mem(struct nicvf *nic, struct q_desc_mem *dmem)
 	dmem->base = NULL;
 }
 
+#define XDP_PAGE_REFCNT_REFILL 256
+
 /* Allocate a new page or recycle one if possible
  *
  * We cannot optimize dma mapping here, since
@@ -90,9 +92,10 @@ static void nicvf_free_q_desc_mem(struct nicvf *nic, struct q_desc_mem *dmem)
  *    and not idx into RBDR ring, so can't refer to saved info.
  * 3. There are multiple receive buffers per page
  */
-static struct pgcache *nicvf_alloc_page(struct nicvf *nic,
-					struct rbdr *rbdr, gfp_t gfp)
+static inline struct pgcache *nicvf_alloc_page(struct nicvf *nic,
+					       struct rbdr *rbdr, gfp_t gfp)
 {
+	int ref_count;
 	struct page *page = NULL;
 	struct pgcache *pgcache, *next;
 
@@ -100,8 +103,23 @@ static struct pgcache *nicvf_alloc_page(struct nicvf *nic,
 	pgcache = &rbdr->pgcache[rbdr->pgidx];
 	page = pgcache->page;
 	/* Check if page can be recycled */
-	if (page && (page_ref_count(page) != 1))
-		page = NULL;
+	if (page) {
+		ref_count = page_ref_count(page);
+		/* Check if this page has been used once i.e 'put_page'
+		 * called after packet transmission i.e internal ref_count
+		 * and page's ref_count are equal i.e page can be recycled.
+		 */
+		if (rbdr->is_xdp && (ref_count == pgcache->ref_count))
+			pgcache->ref_count--;
+		else
+			page = NULL;
+
+		/* In non-XDP mode, page's ref_count needs to be '1' for it
+		 * to be recycled.
+		 */
+		if (!rbdr->is_xdp && (ref_count != 1))
+			page = NULL;
+	}
 
 	if (!page) {
 		page = alloc_pages(gfp | __GFP_COMP | __GFP_NOWARN, 0);
@@ -120,11 +138,30 @@ static struct pgcache *nicvf_alloc_page(struct nicvf *nic,
 		/* Save the page in page cache */
 		pgcache->page = page;
 		pgcache->dma_addr = 0;
+		pgcache->ref_count = 0;
 		rbdr->pgalloc++;
 	}
 
-	/* Take extra page reference for recycling */
-	page_ref_add(page, 1);
+	/* Take additional page references for recycling */
+	if (rbdr->is_xdp) {
+		/* Since there is single RBDR (i.e single core doing
+		 * page recycling) per 8 Rx queues, in XDP mode adjusting
+		 * page references atomically is the biggest bottleneck, so
+		 * take bunch of references at a time.
+		 *
+		 * So here, below reference counts defer by '1'.
+		 */
+		if (!pgcache->ref_count) {
+			pgcache->ref_count = XDP_PAGE_REFCNT_REFILL;
+			page_ref_add(page, XDP_PAGE_REFCNT_REFILL);
+		}
+	} else {
+		/* In non-XDP case, single 64K page is divided across multiple
+		 * receive buffers, so cost of recycling is less anyway.
+		 * So we can do with just one extra reference.
+		 */
+		page_ref_add(page, 1);
+	}
 
 	rbdr->pgidx++;
 	rbdr->pgidx &= (rbdr->pgcnt - 1);
@@ -327,8 +364,14 @@ static void nicvf_free_rbdr(struct nicvf *nic, struct rbdr *rbdr)
 	head = 0;
 	while (head < rbdr->pgcnt) {
 		pgcache = &rbdr->pgcache[head];
-		if (pgcache->page && page_ref_count(pgcache->page) != 0)
+		if (pgcache->page && page_ref_count(pgcache->page) != 0) {
+			if (!rbdr->is_xdp) {
+				put_page(pgcache->page);
+				continue;
+			}
+			page_ref_sub(pgcache->page, pgcache->ref_count - 1);
 			put_page(pgcache->page);
+		}
 		head++;
 	}
 
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.h
index a07d5b4d5ce2..57858522c33c 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.h
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_queues.h
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ struct q_desc_mem {
 
 struct pgcache {
 	struct page	*page;
+	int		ref_count;
 	u64		dma_addr;
 };