diff --git a/packages/react-native-node-api-cmake/src/android.ts b/packages/react-native-node-api-cmake/src/android.ts
index 88f14877..cd1fe4ae 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-node-api-cmake/src/android.ts
+++ b/packages/react-native-node-api-cmake/src/android.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,16 @@ import path from "node:path";
 
 import { AndroidTriplet } from "react-native-node-api-modules";
 
+import { isNinjaAvailable } from "./ninja.js";
+
+function getCmakeGenerator() {
+  if (isNinjaAvailable()) {
+    return "Ninja";
+  } else {
+    return "Unix Makefiles";
+  }
+}
+
 export const DEFAULT_ANDROID_TRIPLETS = [
   "aarch64-linux-android",
   "armv7a-linux-androideabi",
@@ -48,16 +58,9 @@ export function getAndroidConfigureCmakeArgs({
   );
   const architecture = ANDROID_ARCHITECTURES[triplet];
 
-  const linkerFlags: string[] = [
-    // `--no-version-undefined`,
-    // `--whole-archive`,
-    // `--no-whole-archive`,
-  ];
-
   return [
-    // Use the XCode as generator for Apple platforms
     "-G",
-    "Ninja",
+    getCmakeGenerator(),
     "--toolchain",
     toolchainPath,
     "-D",
@@ -68,8 +71,6 @@ export function getAndroidConfigureCmakeArgs({
     // `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${installPath}`,
     // "-D",
     // `CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${configuration}`,
-    "-D",
-    "CMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=ninja",
     // "-D",
     // "CMAKE_C_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache",
     // "-D",
@@ -84,13 +85,5 @@ export function getAndroidConfigureCmakeArgs({
     // `ANDROID_NATIVE_API_LEVEL=${ANDROID_API_LEVEL}`,
     "-D",
     "ANDROID_STL=c++_shared",
-    // Pass linker flags to avoid errors from undefined symbols
-    // TODO: Link against a weak-node-api to avoid this (or whatever other lib which will be providing the symbols)
-    // "-D",
-    // `CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS="-Wl,--allow-shlib-undefined"`,
-    "-D",
-    `CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS=${linkerFlags
-      .map((flag) => `-Wl,${flag}`)
-      .join(" ")}`,
   ];
 }
diff --git a/packages/react-native-node-api-cmake/src/ninja.ts b/packages/react-native-node-api-cmake/src/ninja.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fc815ff0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/react-native-node-api-cmake/src/ninja.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import chalk from "chalk";
+import cp from "node:child_process";
+
+export function getNinjaVersion(): string | undefined {
+  try {
+    const ninjaVersion = cp
+      .execSync("ninja --version", {
+        encoding: "utf-8",
+        stdio: "pipe",
+      })
+      .trim();
+    return ninjaVersion;
+  } catch {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+}
+
+let ninjaAvailable: boolean | undefined;
+
+export function isNinjaAvailable(log = true): boolean {
+  if (typeof ninjaAvailable === "boolean") {
+    return ninjaAvailable;
+  }
+
+  const ninjaVersion = getNinjaVersion();
+  ninjaAvailable = typeof ninjaVersion === "string";
+
+  if (log && ninjaAvailable) {
+    console.log(chalk.dim(`Using Ninja ${ninjaVersion} for Android builds`));
+  } else if (log && !ninjaAvailable) {
+    console.log(
+      `Using Unix Makefiles as fallback, as Ninja was not found.\n${chalk.dim(
+        "Install Ninja for faster builds."
+      )}`
+    );
+  }
+
+  return ninjaAvailable;
+}