diff --git a/.github/workflows/r.yml b/.github/workflows/r.yml
index a3769dc66de8f..5c373d5615844 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/r.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/r.yml
@@ -406,7 +406,6 @@ jobs:
           # we use pak for package installation since it is faster, safer and more convenient
           pak::local_install()
           pak::pak("lintr@3.1.2")
-          pak::pak("cyclocomp")
           lintr::expect_lint_free()
       - name: Dump install logs
         shell: cmd
diff --git a/ci/docker/linux-apt-lint.dockerfile b/ci/docker/linux-apt-lint.dockerfile
index b73cc585ea74e..38f94546fd004 100644
--- a/ci/docker/linux-apt-lint.dockerfile
+++ b/ci/docker/linux-apt-lint.dockerfile
@@ -57,8 +57,7 @@ RUN cat /arrow/ci/etc/rprofile >> $(R RHOME)/etc/Rprofile.site
 # Also ensure parallel compilation of C/C++ code
 RUN echo "MAKEFLAGS=-j$(R -s -e 'cat(parallel::detectCores())')" >> $(R RHOME)/etc/Renviron.site
 # We don't need arrow's dependencies, only lintr (and its dependencies)
-RUN R -e "install.packages('lintr')"
-RUN R -e "install.packages('cyclocomp')"
+RUN R -e "install.packages('lintr@3.1.2')"
 
 # Docker linter
 COPY --from=hadolint /bin/hadolint /usr/bin/hadolint
diff --git a/r/.lintr b/r/.lintr
index 78dfa94fe3b86..d920f77e9bbd3 100644
--- a/r/.lintr
+++ b/r/.lintr
@@ -23,10 +23,8 @@ linters: linters_with_defaults(
   # object_name_linter = object_name_linter(styles = c("snake_case", "camelCase", "CamelCase", "symbols", "dotted.case", "UPPERCASE", "SNAKE_CASE")),
   object_length_linter = object_length_linter(40),
   object_usage_linter = NULL, # R6 methods are flagged,
-  cyclocomp_linter = cyclocomp_linter(26), # TODO: reduce to default of 15
+  cyclocomp_linter = cyclocomp_linter(26) # TODO: reduce to default of 15
   # See also https://github.com/r-lib/lintr/issues/804 for cyclocomp issues with R6
-  # TODO: Fix newly added return_linter. See: https://github.com/apache/arrow/pull/45524#issuecomment-2656149531
-  return_linter = NULL
   )
 exclusions: list(
   "R/arrowExports.R",