diff --git a/litellm/_redis.py b/litellm/_redis.py
index 0b91cdabffc..fe5c5cdabe9 100644
--- a/litellm/_redis.py
+++ b/litellm/_redis.py
@@ -688,10 +688,8 @@ def get_redis_connection_pool(
     elif redis_connect_func and hasattr(redis_connect_func, "_gcp_service_account"):
         redis_kwargs["credential_provider"] = GCPIAMCredentialProvider(redis_connect_func._gcp_service_account)
 
-    connection_class = async_redis.Connection
-    if redis_kwargs.pop("ssl", False):
-        connection_class = async_redis.SSLConnection
-        redis_kwargs["connection_class"] = connection_class
+    if redis_kwargs.pop("ssl", None):
+        redis_kwargs["connection_class"] = async_redis.SSLConnection
     return async_redis.BlockingConnectionPool(timeout=REDIS_CONNECTION_POOL_TIMEOUT, **redis_kwargs)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_redis.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_redis.py
index 4b9f13c340b..0818237655d 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/test_redis.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_redis.py
@@ -724,3 +724,16 @@ def test_connection_pool_without_ssl_kwarg_uses_plain_connection(monkeypatch):
     call_kwargs = mock_pool.call_args.kwargs
     assert call_kwargs.get("connection_class") is not async_redis.SSLConnection
     assert "ssl" not in call_kwargs
+
+
+def test_connection_pool_env_redis_ssl_false_uses_plain_connection(monkeypatch):
+    """REDIS_SSL=false from the environment must not select SSLConnection."""
+    monkeypatch.delenv("REDIS_URL", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("REDIS_CLUSTER_NODES", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.setenv("REDIS_SSL", "false")
+
+    pool = get_redis_connection_pool(host="plain-host", port=6379)
+
+    assert pool is not None
+    assert pool.connection_class is async_redis.Connection
+    assert "ssl" not in pool.connection_kwargs