The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of Corporate Governance (CG) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Malaysian SMEs. It also examines the moderating impact of institutional factors in the relationship between CG and CSR in Malaysian SMEs. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was employed, using survey data collected from manufacturing SMEs across Malaysia. Unit analysis of the study is company level and random sampling was adopted to collect the sample for this study. A total of 125 responses were returned in completed form from self-administered structured questionnaires dispatched to 1500 manufacturing SMEs. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling, complemented by descriptive statistics. Results showed Board size, board independence and family ownership have effect on CSR meanwhile surprisingly institutional factors did not moderate the relationship between CG and CSR. This study provides relevant insights and beneficial information for entities like SME Corp, SME Owners/ management and government authorities to introduce new policies such as make it compulsory for all private limited SMEs to have independent director in their board. Further extends the knowledge of CSR among scholar mainly in the context of SMEs. Further, it enhances the literature by provided empirical evidence on the effect of CG factors and the moderating effects of institutional factors.