diff --git a/cosmos/config.py b/cosmos/config.py
index 64a7acd08..820833e6c 100644
--- a/cosmos/config.py
+++ b/cosmos/config.py
@@ -319,6 +319,18 @@ class ExecutionConfig:
     project_path: Path | None = field(init=False)
 
     def __post_init__(self, dbt_project_path: str | Path | None) -> None:
-        if self.invocation_mode and self.execution_mode != ExecutionMode.LOCAL:
-            raise CosmosValueError("ExecutionConfig.invocation_mode is only configurable for ExecutionMode.LOCAL.")
+        if self.invocation_mode and self.execution_mode not in (ExecutionMode.LOCAL, ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV):
+            raise CosmosValueError(
+                "ExecutionConfig.invocation_mode is only configurable for ExecutionMode.LOCAL and ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV."
+            )
+        if self.execution_mode == ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV:
+            if self.invocation_mode == InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER:
+                raise CosmosValueError(
+                    "InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER has not been implemented for ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV"
+                )
+            elif self.invocation_mode is None:
+                logger.debug(
+                    "Defaulting to InvocationMode.SUBPROCESS as it is the only supported invocation mode for ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV"
+                )
+                self.invocation_mode = InvocationMode.SUBPROCESS
         self.project_path = Path(dbt_project_path) if dbt_project_path else None
diff --git a/docs/getting_started/execution-modes.rst b/docs/getting_started/execution-modes.rst
index 1765144d9..40e6103a4 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started/execution-modes.rst
+++ b/docs/getting_started/execution-modes.rst
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ Some drawbacks of this approach:
 
 - It is slower than ``local`` because it creates a new Python virtual environment for each Cosmos dbt task run.
 - If dbt is unavailable in the Airflow scheduler, the default ``LoadMode.DBT_LS`` will not work. In this scenario, users must use a `parsing method <parsing-methods.html>`_  that does not rely on dbt, such as ``LoadMode.MANIFEST``.
+- Only ``InvocationMode.SUBPROCESS`` is supported currently, attempt to use ``InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER`` will raise error.
 
 Example of how to use:
 
diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
index acca546be..d7dc24cbe 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -199,15 +199,34 @@ def test_render_config_env_vars_deprecated():
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    "execution_mode, expectation",
+    "execution_mode, invocation_mode, expectation",
     [
-        (ExecutionMode.LOCAL, does_not_raise()),
-        (ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
-        (ExecutionMode.KUBERNETES, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
-        (ExecutionMode.DOCKER, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
-        (ExecutionMode.AZURE_CONTAINER_INSTANCE, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
+        (ExecutionMode.LOCAL, InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER, does_not_raise()),
+        (ExecutionMode.LOCAL, InvocationMode.SUBPROCESS, does_not_raise()),
+        (ExecutionMode.LOCAL, None, does_not_raise()),
+        (ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV, InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
+        (ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV, InvocationMode.SUBPROCESS, does_not_raise()),
+        (ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV, None, does_not_raise()),
+        (ExecutionMode.KUBERNETES, InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
+        (ExecutionMode.DOCKER, InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
+        (ExecutionMode.AZURE_CONTAINER_INSTANCE, InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER, pytest.raises(CosmosValueError)),
     ],
 )
-def test_execution_config_with_invocation_option(execution_mode, expectation):
+def test_execution_config_with_invocation_option(execution_mode, invocation_mode, expectation):
     with expectation:
-        ExecutionConfig(execution_mode=execution_mode, invocation_mode=InvocationMode.DBT_RUNNER)
+        ExecutionConfig(execution_mode=execution_mode, invocation_mode=invocation_mode)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "execution_mode, expected_invocation_mode",
+    [
+        (ExecutionMode.LOCAL, None),
+        (ExecutionMode.VIRTUALENV, InvocationMode.SUBPROCESS),
+        (ExecutionMode.KUBERNETES, None),
+        (ExecutionMode.DOCKER, None),
+        (ExecutionMode.AZURE_CONTAINER_INSTANCE, None),
+    ],
+)
+def test_execution_config_default_config(execution_mode, expected_invocation_mode):
+    execution_config = ExecutionConfig(execution_mode=execution_mode)
+    assert execution_config.invocation_mode == expected_invocation_mode