diff --git a/packages/core/src/config.ts b/packages/core/src/config.ts
index 02188fa9e..6b29e5691 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/config.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/config.ts
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ const getDefaultDtsConfig = (
       pluginDts({
         bundle: dts?.bundle ?? bundle,
         distPath: dts?.distPath ?? output?.distPath?.root ?? './dist',
-        tsconfigPath: dts?.tsconfigPath ?? 'tsconfig.json',
+        tsconfigPath: dts?.tsconfigPath,
         // TODO: temporarily use main as dts entry
         entryPath: entryConfig.source?.entry?.main as string,
       }),
diff --git a/packages/plugin-dts/src/dts.ts b/packages/plugin-dts/src/dts.ts
index 4fcfbe8bd..013591e7c 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-dts/src/dts.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-dts/src/dts.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { basename, dirname, join, relative } from 'node:path';
 import { logger } from '@rsbuild/core';
 import type { DtsGenOptions } from 'src';
+import * as ts from 'typescript';
 import { emitDts } from './tsc';
 import { ensureTempDeclarationDir, loadTsconfig } from './utils';
 
@@ -9,7 +10,11 @@ export async function generateDts(data: DtsGenOptions) {
   const { options: pluginOptions, isWatch } = data;
   const { tsconfigPath, distPath, bundle, entryPath } = pluginOptions;
   const cwd = process.cwd();
-  const configPath = join(cwd, tsconfigPath!);
+  const configPath = ts.findConfigFile(cwd, ts.sys.fileExists, tsconfigPath);
+  if (!configPath) {
+    logger.error(`tsconfig.json not found in ${cwd}`);
+    throw new Error();
+  }
   const { options: rawCompilerOptions } = loadTsconfig(configPath);
   const rootDir = rawCompilerOptions.rootDir ?? 'src';
   const outDir = distPath
@@ -75,12 +80,15 @@ process.on('message', async (data: DtsGenOptions) => {
     return;
   }
 
-  await generateDts(data);
-
-  if (process.send) {
-    process.send('success');
+  try {
+    await generateDts(data);
+  } catch (e) {
+    process.send!('error');
+    process.exit(1);
   }
 
+  process.send!('success');
+
   if (!data.isWatch) {
     process.exit();
   }
diff --git a/packages/plugin-dts/src/index.ts b/packages/plugin-dts/src/index.ts
index 2bbf35df5..db6fcdee6 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-dts/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-dts/src/index.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ export const pluginDts = (
 
     options.distPath =
       options.distPath ?? config.output?.distPath?.root ?? 'dist';
-    options.tsconfigPath = options.tsconfigPath ?? 'tsconfig.json';
 
     const dtsPromises: Promise<void>[] = [];
 
@@ -49,10 +48,12 @@ export const pluginDts = (
       childProcess.send(sendData);
 
       dtsPromises.push(
-        new Promise((resolve) => {
+        new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
           childProcess.on('message', (message) => {
             if (message === 'success') {
               resolve();
+            } else if (message === 'error') {
+              reject(new Error('Error occurred in dts generation'));
             }
           });
         }),
diff --git a/packages/plugin-dts/src/utils.ts b/packages/plugin-dts/src/utils.ts
index 9a1fb6193..547fcca25 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-dts/src/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-dts/src/utils.ts
@@ -3,18 +3,14 @@ import path from 'node:path';
 import * as ts from 'typescript';
 
 export function loadTsconfig(tsconfigPath: string): ts.ParsedCommandLine {
-  if (fs.existsSync(tsconfigPath)) {
-    const configFile = ts.readConfigFile(tsconfigPath, ts.sys.readFile);
-    const configFileContent = ts.parseJsonConfigFileContent(
-      configFile.config,
-      ts.sys,
-      path.dirname(tsconfigPath),
-    );
-
-    return configFileContent;
-  }
-
-  throw new Error(`tsconfig.json not found in the ${tsconfigPath}`);
+  const configFile = ts.readConfigFile(tsconfigPath, ts.sys.readFile);
+  const configFileContent = ts.parseJsonConfigFileContent(
+    configFile.config,
+    ts.sys,
+    path.dirname(tsconfigPath),
+  );
+
+  return configFileContent;
 }
 
 export const TEMP_FOLDER = '.rslib';