diff --git a/drivers/phy/rockchip/phy-rockchip-emmc.c b/drivers/phy/rockchip/phy-rockchip-emmc.c
index 2dc19ddd120f..a005fc58bbf0 100644
--- a/drivers/phy/rockchip/phy-rockchip-emmc.c
+++ b/drivers/phy/rockchip/phy-rockchip-emmc.c
@@ -240,15 +240,17 @@ static int rockchip_emmc_phy_init(struct phy *phy)
 	 * - SDHCI driver to get the PHY
 	 * - SDHCI driver to init the PHY
 	 *
-	 * The clock is optional, so upon any error we just set to NULL.
+	 * The clock is optional, using clk_get_optional() to get the clock
+	 * and do error processing if the return value != NULL
 	 *
 	 * NOTE: we don't do anything special for EPROBE_DEFER here.  Given the
 	 * above expected use case, EPROBE_DEFER isn't sensible to expect, so
 	 * it's just like any other error.
 	 */
-	rk_phy->emmcclk = clk_get(&phy->dev, "emmcclk");
+	rk_phy->emmcclk = clk_get_optional(&phy->dev, "emmcclk");
 	if (IS_ERR(rk_phy->emmcclk)) {
-		dev_dbg(&phy->dev, "Error getting emmcclk: %d\n", ret);
+		ret = PTR_ERR(rk_phy->emmcclk);
+		dev_err(&phy->dev, "Error getting emmcclk: %d\n", ret);
 		rk_phy->emmcclk = NULL;
 	}