diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_event.rst b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_event.rst
index 8bdf352c4e..d536eee819 100644
--- a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_event.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_event.rst
@@ -204,9 +204,6 @@ chapters that related to the Poll Mode and Event mode Driver in the
 
 .. code-block:: c
 
-    if (rte_pci_probe() < 0)
-        rte_panic("Cannot probe PCI\n");
-
     /* reset l2fwd_dst_ports */
 
     for (portid = 0; portid < RTE_MAX_ETHPORTS; portid++)
@@ -236,11 +233,6 @@ chapters that related to the Poll Mode and Event mode Driver in the
         rte_eth_dev_info_get((uint8_t) portid, &dev_info);
     }
 
-Observe that:
-
-*   rte_pci_probe() parses the devices on the PCI bus and initializes recognized
-    devices.
-
 The next step is to configure the RX and TX queues. For each port, there is only
 one RX queue (only one lcore is able to poll a given port). The number of TX
 queues depends on the number of available lcores. The rte_eth_dev_configure()
diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_real_virtual.rst b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_real_virtual.rst
index 39d6b0067a..671d0c7c19 100644
--- a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_real_virtual.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/l2_forward_real_virtual.rst
@@ -194,9 +194,6 @@ in the *DPDK Programmer's Guide* - Rel 1.4 EAR and the *DPDK API Reference*.
 
 .. code-block:: c
 
-    if (rte_pci_probe() < 0)
-        rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE, "Cannot probe PCI\n");
-
     /* reset l2fwd_dst_ports */
 
     for (portid = 0; portid < RTE_MAX_ETHPORTS; portid++)
@@ -226,12 +223,6 @@ in the *DPDK Programmer's Guide* - Rel 1.4 EAR and the *DPDK API Reference*.
         rte_eth_dev_info_get((uint8_t) portid, &dev_info);
     }
 
-Observe that:
-
-*   rte_igb_pmd_init_all() simultaneously registers the driver as a PCI driver and as an Ethernet* Poll Mode Driver.
-
-*   rte_pci_probe() parses the devices on the PCI bus and initializes recognized devices.
-
 The next step is to configure the RX and TX queues.
 For each port, there is only one RX queue (only one lcore is able to poll a given port).
 The number of TX queues depends on the number of available lcores.
diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/link_status_intr.rst b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/link_status_intr.rst
index 5283be8b7c..04c40f2854 100644
--- a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/link_status_intr.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/link_status_intr.rst
@@ -88,9 +88,6 @@ To fully understand this code, it is recommended to study the chapters that rela
 
 .. code-block:: c
 
-    if (rte_pci_probe() < 0)
-        rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE, "Cannot probe PCI\n");
-
     /*
      * Each logical core is assigned a dedicated TX queue on each port.
      */
@@ -115,10 +112,6 @@ To fully understand this code, it is recommended to study the chapters that rela
         rte_eth_dev_info_get((uint8_t) portid, &dev_info);
     }
 
-Observe that:
-
-*   rte_pci_probe()  parses the devices on the PCI bus and initializes recognized devices.
-
 The next step is to configure the RX and TX queues.
 For each port, there is only one RX queue (only one lcore is able to poll a given port).
 The number of TX queues depends on the number of available lcores.
diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/multi_process.rst b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/multi_process.rst
index 9c374da6f7..f2a79a6397 100644
--- a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/multi_process.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/multi_process.rst
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ How the Application Works
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
 The initialization calls in both the primary and secondary instances are the same for the most part,
-calling the rte_eal_init(), 1 G and 10 G driver initialization and then rte_pci_probe() functions.
+calling the rte_eal_init(), 1 G and 10 G driver initialization and then probing devices.
 Thereafter, the initialization done depends on whether the process is configured as a primary or secondary instance.
 
 In the primary instance, a memory pool is created for the packet mbufs and the network ports to be used are initialized -
diff --git a/drivers/bus/pci/pci_common.c b/drivers/bus/pci/pci_common.c
index 3f55420769..ab73c009ac 100644
--- a/drivers/bus/pci/pci_common.c
+++ b/drivers/bus/pci/pci_common.c
@@ -288,8 +288,8 @@ pci_probe_all_drivers(struct rte_pci_device *dev)
  * all registered drivers that have a matching entry in its id_table
  * for discovered devices.
  */
-int
-rte_pci_probe(void)
+static int
+pci_probe(void)
 {
 	struct rte_pci_device *dev = NULL;
 	size_t probed = 0, failed = 0;
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@ rte_pci_get_iommu_class(void)
 struct rte_pci_bus rte_pci_bus = {
 	.bus = {
 		.scan = rte_pci_scan,
-		.probe = rte_pci_probe,
+		.probe = pci_probe,
 		.find_device = pci_find_device,
 		.plug = pci_plug,
 		.unplug = pci_unplug,
diff --git a/drivers/bus/pci/private.h b/drivers/bus/pci/private.h
index a205d4d9f0..af1c7ae5fe 100644
--- a/drivers/bus/pci/private.h
+++ b/drivers/bus/pci/private.h
@@ -17,16 +17,6 @@ struct rte_pci_device;
 
 extern struct rte_pci_bus rte_pci_bus;
 
-/**
- * Probe the PCI bus
- *
- * @return
- *   - 0 on success.
- *   - !0 on error.
- */
-int
-rte_pci_probe(void);
-
 /**
  * Scan the content of the PCI bus, and the devices in the devices
  * list
diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c b/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c
index 953f00d72d..4743c11fd2 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c
@@ -720,7 +720,7 @@ virtio_user_pmd_probe(struct rte_vdev_device *dev)
 		goto end;
 	}
 
-	/* previously called by rte_pci_probe() for physical dev */
+	/* previously called by pci probing for physical dev */
 	if (eth_virtio_dev_init(eth_dev) < 0) {
 		PMD_INIT_LOG(ERR, "eth_virtio_dev_init fails");
 		virtio_user_eth_dev_free(eth_dev);
