Utilizing the available spectrum in a more optimized manner and selecting a proper routing technique for transferring the data, without any data collision, from the sensor node to the base station play a major role in any network for increasing their network lifetime. Cognitive radio techniques play a major role to achieve the same, and when combined with wireless sensor networks the above-said requirements can be greatly accomplished. In this article, a novel energy-efficient distance-based clustering and routing algorithm using multi-hop communication approach is proposed. Based on distance, the given heterogeneous cognitive radio–based wireless sensor networks are divided into regions and are allocated with a unique spectrum. Dynamic clustering through distance calculation and routing of data through multi-hop communication is done. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed algorithm has improved energy efficiency and is more stable. The first node death and 80% node death illustrate the improved scalability. Also, the increased throughput aids in maintaining the residual energy of the network, which further solves the problem of load balancing among nodes. All the above results combined with half node death analysis show that the proposed algorithm also has an improved network lifetime. © 2018, © The Author(s) 2018.