diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
index 1dd220ade94..af478de995f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ jobs:
         rust: [stable]
     container:
       image: ${{ matrix.arch }}/rust
+      env:
+        # Disable full debug symbol generation to speed up CI build
+        # "1" means line tables only, which is useful for panic tracebacks.
+        RUSTFLAGS: "-C debuginfo=1"
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - name: Cache Cargo
@@ -83,6 +87,9 @@ jobs:
     container:
       image: ${{ matrix.arch }}/rust
       env:
+        # Disable full debug symbol generation to speed up CI build
+        # "1" means line tables only, which is useful for panic tracebacks.
+        RUSTFLAGS: "-C debuginfo=1"
         ARROW_TEST_DATA: /__w/arrow/arrow/testing/data
         PARQUET_TEST_DATA: /__w/arrow/arrow/cpp/submodules/parquet-testing/data
     steps:
@@ -140,6 +147,9 @@ jobs:
     container:
       image: ${{ matrix.arch }}/rust
       env:
+        # Disable full debug symbol generation to speed up CI build
+        # "1" means line tables only, which is useful for panic tracebacks.
+        RUSTFLAGS: "-C debuginfo=1"
         ARROW_TEST_DATA: /__w/arrow/arrow/testing/data
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
@@ -207,6 +217,10 @@ jobs:
         rust: [stable]
     container:
       image: ${{ matrix.arch }}/rust
+      env:
+        # Disable full debug symbol generation to speed up CI build
+        # "1" means line tables only, which is useful for panic tracebacks.
+        RUSTFLAGS: "-C debuginfo=1"
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
@@ -367,6 +381,9 @@ jobs:
     container:
       image: ${{ matrix.arch }}/rust
       env:
+        # Disable full debug symbol generation to speed up CI build
+        # "1" means line tables only, which is useful for panic tracebacks.
+        RUSTFLAGS: "-C debuginfo=1"
         ARROW_TEST_DATA: /__w/arrow/arrow/testing/data
         PARQUET_TEST_DATA: /__w/arrow/arrow/cpp/submodules/parquet-testing/data
     steps:
diff --git a/ci/scripts/rust_build.sh b/ci/scripts/rust_build.sh
index bdea5e44f6b..94cf7560aca 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/rust_build.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/rust_build.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ set -ex
 
 source_dir=${1}/rust
 
+# Disable full debug symbol generation to speed up CI build / reduce memory required
+export RUSTFLAGS="-C debuginfo=1"
+
 export ARROW_TEST_DATA=${arrow_dir}/testing/data
 export PARQUET_TEST_DATA=${arrow_dir}/cpp/submodules/parquet-testing/data