diff --git a/doc/driver-model/of-plat.rst b/doc/driver-model/of-plat.rst
index 4ef2fe699a..a5a6e46e3e 100644
--- a/doc/driver-model/of-plat.rst
+++ b/doc/driver-model/of-plat.rst
@@ -183,7 +183,8 @@ each 'compatible' string.
 
 In order to make this a bit more flexible DM_DRIVER_ALIAS macro can be
 used to declare an alias for a driver name, typically a 'compatible' string.
-This macro produces no code, but it is by dtoc tool.
+This macro produces no code, but it is by dtoc tool. It must be located in the
+same file as its associated driver, ideally just after it.
 
 The parent_idx is the index of the parent driver_info structure within its
 linker list (instantiated by the U_BOOT_DRVINFO() macro). This is used to support
diff --git a/tools/dtoc/src_scan.py b/tools/dtoc/src_scan.py
index 206b2b3758..9d161a2cbc 100644
--- a/tools/dtoc/src_scan.py
+++ b/tools/dtoc/src_scan.py
@@ -387,6 +387,7 @@ class Scanner:
                 in the file
             _of_match - updated with each compatible string found in the file
             _compat_to_driver - Maps compatible string to Driver
+            _driver_aliases - Maps alias names to driver name
 
         Args:
             fname (str): Filename being parsed (used for warnings)
@@ -438,6 +439,7 @@ class Scanner:
 
         re_phase = re.compile('^\s*DM_PHASE\((.*)\).*$')
         re_hdr = re.compile('^\s*DM_HEADER\((.*)\).*$')
+        re_alias = re.compile(r'DM_DRIVER_ALIAS\(\s*(\w+)\s*,\s*(\w+)\s*\)')
 
         # Matches the struct name for priv, plat
         re_priv = self._get_re_for_member('priv_auto')
@@ -522,8 +524,11 @@ class Scanner:
                 driver = Driver(driver_name, fname)
             else:
                 ids_m = re_ids.search(line)
+                m_alias = re_alias.match(line)
                 if ids_m:
                     ids_name = ids_m.group(1)
+                elif m_alias:
+                    self._driver_aliases[m_alias[2]] = m_alias[1]
 
         # Make the updates based on what we found
         self._drivers.update(drivers)
@@ -557,17 +562,6 @@ class Scanner:
             if 'UCLASS_DRIVER' in buff:
                 self._parse_uclass_driver(fname, buff)
 
-            # The following re will search for driver aliases declared as
-            # DM_DRIVER_ALIAS(alias, driver_name)
-            driver_aliases = re.findall(
-                r'DM_DRIVER_ALIAS\(\s*(\w+)\s*,\s*(\w+)\s*\)',
-                buff)
-
-            for alias in driver_aliases: # pragma: no cover
-                if len(alias) != 2:
-                    continue
-                self._driver_aliases[alias[1]] = alias[0]
-
     def scan_header(self, fname):
         """Scan a header file to build a list of struct definitions
 
diff --git a/tools/dtoc/test/dtoc_test_scan_drivers.cxx b/tools/dtoc/test/dtoc_test_scan_drivers.cxx
index f448767670..f370b8951d 100644
--- a/tools/dtoc/test/dtoc_test_scan_drivers.cxx
+++ b/tools/dtoc/test/dtoc_test_scan_drivers.cxx
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
+/* Aliases must be in driver files */
+U_BOOT_DRIVER(sandbox_gpio) {
+};
+
 DM_DRIVER_ALIAS(sandbox_gpio, sandbox_gpio_alias2)