diff --git a/sycl/source/CMakeLists.txt b/sycl/source/CMakeLists.txt
index cb27f9778792d..7ecd155a3849b 100644
--- a/sycl/source/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/sycl/source/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -127,10 +127,10 @@ if (MSVC)
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO "")
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "")
 
-  target_compile_options(sycl PUBLIC ${SYCL_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE})
+  target_compile_options(sycl PRIVATE ${SYCL_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE})
 
   add_sycl_rt_library(sycld ${SYCL_SOURCES})
-  target_compile_options(sycld PUBLIC ${SYCL_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG})
+  target_compile_options(sycld PRIVATE ${SYCL_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG})
 endif()
 
 install(TARGETS ${SYCL_RT_LIBS}