diff --git a/core/combo/select.mk b/core/combo/select.mk
index bd6c8c0..c886342 100644
--- a/core/combo/select.mk
+++ b/core/combo/select.mk
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 $(combo_target)GLOBAL_LDFLAGS :=
 $(combo_target)GLOBAL_ARFLAGS := crsP
 
-$(combo_target)EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX := 
+$(combo_target)EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX :=
 $(combo_target)SHLIB_SUFFIX := .so
 $(combo_target)JNILIB_SUFFIX := $($(combo_target)SHLIB_SUFFIX)
 $(combo_target)STATIC_LIB_SUFFIX := .a
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@
 
 ifneq ($(USE_CCACHE),)
   ccache := prebuilt/$(HOST_PREBUILT_TAG)/ccache/ccache
-  $(combo_target)CC := $(ccache) $($(combo_target)CC)
-  $(combo_target)CXX := $(ccache) $($(combo_target)CXX)
+  # prepend ccache if necessary
+  ifneq ($(ccache),$(firstword $($(combo_target)CC)))
+    $(combo_target)CC := $(ccache) $($(combo_target)CC)
+  endif
+  ifneq ($(ccache),$(firstword $($(combo_target)CXX)))
+    $(combo_target)CXX := $(ccache) $($(combo_target)CXX)
+  endif
   ccache =
 endif