diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3_internal.h b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3_internal.h
index 85425b126012a..2b746c199b1a0 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3_internal.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3_internal.h
@@ -320,6 +320,9 @@ inline Result<std::string> CalculateSSECustomerKeyMD5(
 
 template <typename S3RequestType>
 Status SetSSECustomerKey(S3RequestType& request, const std::string& sse_customer_key) {
+#ifndef ARROW_S3_SUPPORT_SSEC
+  return Status::NotImplemented("SSE-C is not supported");
+#endif
   if (sse_customer_key.empty()) {
     return Status::OK();  // do nothing if the sse_customer_key is not configured
   }
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.cc
index bb76fd797b4b7..aea17581ecdf5 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/filesystem/s3fs.cc
@@ -105,6 +105,10 @@
 #  define ARROW_S3_HAS_S3CLIENT_CONFIGURATION
 #endif
 
+#if ARROW_AWS_SDK_VERSION_CHECK(1, 9, 201)
+#  define ARROW_S3_SUPPORT_SSEC
+#endif
+
 #ifdef ARROW_S3_HAS_CRT
 #  include <aws/crt/io/Bootstrap.h>
 #  include <aws/crt/io/EventLoopGroup.h>