Since IEEE 802.11 protocol implements a limited number of retransmissions at link layer, an energy-efficient routing algorithm named ERRC is proposed for reliable communication in IEEE 802.11-based Mobile Ad Hoc networks (MANET). It can be easily applied to current MANET active routing protocols. ERRC proposes an energy consumption model based on IEEE 802.11 retransmissions and provides power control mechanism in data transmission. Packet error rate and node cost are considered during ERRC’s route selection. The simulation result shows that ERRC can significantly prolong the MANET’s lifetime and is more accurate than traditional energy efficient routing algorithms which do not consider packet error rate.