diff --git a/src/pystencils_autodiff/tensorflow_jit.py b/src/pystencils_autodiff/tensorflow_jit.py
index 9e58073a09b862dd81ac8acaee67120eb5410d95..97f10e020c051f9bd2b9bdf4d4b279fc15584baa 100644
--- a/src/pystencils_autodiff/tensorflow_jit.py
+++ b/src/pystencils_autodiff/tensorflow_jit.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ if pystencils.gpucuda.cudajit.USE_FAST_MATH:
 
 def compile_file(file,
                  use_nvcc=False,
-                 nvcc='nvcc',
+                 nvcc=None,
                  overwrite_destination_file=True,
                  additional_compile_flags=[],
                  openmp=True):
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ def compile_file(file,
     import tensorflow as tf
 
     if use_nvcc:
-        command_prefix = [NVCC_BINARY,
+        command_prefix = [nvcc or NVCC_BINARY,
                           '--expt-relaxed-constexpr',
                           '-ccbin',
                           get_compiler_config()['tensorflow_host_compiler'],