diff --git a/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs b/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs
index 680cf80c75..c06488253c 100644
--- a/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs
+++ b/native/core/src/execution/jni_api.rs
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 use std::{sync::Arc, task::Poll};
+use datafusion::functions::datetime::to_date::ToDateFunc;
 use tokio::runtime::Runtime;
 
 use crate::execution::memory_pools::{
@@ -351,6 +352,7 @@ fn register_datafusion_spark_function(session_ctx: &SessionContext) {
     session_ctx.register_udf(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(SparkConcat::default()));
     session_ctx.register_udf(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(SparkBitwiseNot::default()));
     session_ctx.register_udf(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(SparkHex::default()));
+    session_ctx.register_udf(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(ToDateFunc::default()));
 }
 
 /// Prepares arrow arrays for output.
diff --git a/native/spark-expr/src/comet_scalar_funcs.rs b/native/spark-expr/src/comet_scalar_funcs.rs
index 760dc3570f..f9268e62a3 100644
--- a/native/spark-expr/src/comet_scalar_funcs.rs
+++ b/native/spark-expr/src/comet_scalar_funcs.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ use datafusion::physical_plan::ColumnarValue;
 use std::any::Any;
 use std::fmt::Debug;
 use std::sync::Arc;
+use datafusion::functions::datetime::to_date::ToDateFunc;
 
 macro_rules! make_comet_scalar_udf {
     ($name:expr, $func:ident, $data_type:ident) => {{
@@ -196,6 +197,7 @@ fn all_scalar_functions() -> Vec<Arc<ScalarUDF>> {
         Arc::new(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(SparkDateTrunc::default())),
         Arc::new(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(SparkStringSpace::default())),
         Arc::new(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(SparkSizeFunc::default())),
+        Arc::new(ScalarUDF::new_from_impl(ToDateFunc::default())),
     ]
 }
 
diff --git a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/QueryPlanSerde.scala b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/QueryPlanSerde.scala
index 066680456e..d2c2c6e723 100644
--- a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/QueryPlanSerde.scala
+++ b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/QueryPlanSerde.scala
@@ -205,7 +205,9 @@ object QueryPlanSerde extends Logging with CometExprShim {
     classOf[WeekDay] -> CometWeekDay,
     classOf[DayOfYear] -> CometDayOfYear,
     classOf[WeekOfYear] -> CometWeekOfYear,
-    classOf[Quarter] -> CometQuarter)
+    classOf[Quarter] -> CometQuarter,
+    classOf[ParseToDate] -> CometParseToDate
+  )
 
   private val conversionExpressions: Map[Class[_ <: Expression], CometExpressionSerde[_]] = Map(
     classOf[Cast] -> CometCast)
diff --git a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/datetime.scala b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/datetime.scala
index a623146916..835c17e37a 100644
--- a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/datetime.scala
+++ b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/comet/serde/datetime.scala
@@ -20,11 +20,9 @@
 package org.apache.comet.serde
 
 import java.util.Locale
-
-import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.{Attribute, DateAdd, DateDiff, DateFormatClass, DateSub, DayOfMonth, DayOfWeek, DayOfYear, GetDateField, Hour, LastDay, Literal, Minute, Month, Quarter, Second, TruncDate, TruncTimestamp, UnixDate, UnixTimestamp, WeekDay, WeekOfYear, Year}
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.{Attribute, DateAdd, DateDiff, DateFormatClass, DateSub, DayOfMonth, DayOfWeek, DayOfYear, GetDateField, Hour, LastDay, Literal, Minute, Month, ParseToDate, Quarter, Second, TruncDate, TruncTimestamp, UnixDate, UnixTimestamp, WeekDay, WeekOfYear, Year}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types.{DateType, IntegerType, StringType, TimestampType}
 import org.apache.spark.unsafe.types.UTF8String
-
 import org.apache.comet.CometSparkSessionExtensions.withInfo
 import org.apache.comet.serde.CometGetDateField.CometGetDateField
 import org.apache.comet.serde.ExprOuterClass.Expr
@@ -176,6 +174,29 @@ object CometQuarter extends CometExpressionSerde[Quarter] with CometExprGetDateF
   }
 }
 
+object CometParseToDate extends CometExpressionSerde[ParseToDate] {
+  /**
+   * Convert a Spark expression into a protocol buffer representation that can be passed into
+   * native code.
+   *
+   * @param expr
+   * The Spark expression.
+   * @param inputs
+   * The input attributes.
+   * @param binding
+   * Whether the attributes are bound (this is only relevant in aggregate expressions).
+   * @return
+   * Protocol buffer representation, or None if the expression could not be converted. In this
+   * case it is expected that the input expression will have been tagged with reasons why it
+   * could not be converted.
+   */
+  override def convert(expr: ParseToDate, inputs: Seq[Attribute], binding: Boolean): Option[Expr] = {
+    val childExpr: Option[Expr] = exprToProtoInternal(expr.left, inputs, binding)
+    val failOnErrorExpr: Option[Expr] = exprToProtoInternal(Literal(expr.ansiEnabled), inputs, binding)
+    ???
+  }
+}
+
 object CometHour extends CometExpressionSerde[Hour] {
   override def convert(
       expr: Hour,
diff --git a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometTemporalExpressionSuite.scala b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometTemporalExpressionSuite.scala
index 1ae6926e05..cb489e8f16 100644
--- a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometTemporalExpressionSuite.scala
+++ b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/CometTemporalExpressionSuite.scala
@@ -173,6 +173,26 @@ class CometTemporalExpressionSuite extends CometTestBase with AdaptiveSparkPlanH
     }
   }
 
+  test("to_date - string input") {
+    withTempView("string_tbl") {
+      // Create test data with timestamp strings
+      val schema = StructType(Seq(StructField("dt_str", DataTypes.StringType, true)))
+      val data = Seq(
+        Row("2020-01-01"),
+        Row("2021-06-15"),
+        Row("2022-12-31"),
+        Row(null))
+      spark
+        .createDataFrame(spark.sparkContext.parallelize(data), schema)
+        .createOrReplaceTempView("string_tbl")
+
+      // String input with custom format should also fall back
+      checkSparkAnswerAndFallbackReason(
+        "SELECT dt_str, to_date(dt_str, 'yyyy-MM-dd') from string_tbl",
+        "to_date does not support input type: StringType")
+    }
+  }
+
   private def createTimestampTestData = {
     val r = new Random(42)
     val schema = StructType(