The role of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is essential to the present scenario. Numerous independent sensors exist in a WSN that cover the entire terrain and have the task of inspecting a specific phenomenon. For this reason, the sensors must work with minimal constraints, such as least energy consumption and data memory. To achieve the objective, many techniques are applied, one of which is clustering, where nodes are congregated into clusters and a head node is elected. Suitable cluster head selection is crucial for improving the energy management of a sensor network. In this paper, a technique based on a dominance based rough set is introduced for cluster head selection on the basis of attributes that have the capacity to augment the sustainability and lifetime of the sensor network. This method is far superior to the probabilistic approach of cluster head selection in a WSN. © 2014 IEEE.