diff --git a/surya/detection.py b/surya/detection.py
index 152c1e6..90c3fcb 100644
--- a/surya/detection.py
+++ b/surya/detection.py
@@ -123,12 +123,13 @@ def parallel_get_lines(preds, orig_sizes):
 def batch_text_detection(images: List, model, processor, batch_size=None) -> List[TextDetectionResult]:
     preds, orig_sizes = batch_detection(images, model, processor, batch_size=batch_size)
     results = []
-    if settings.IN_STREAMLIT: # Ensures we don't parallelize with streamlit
+    if settings.IN_STREAMLIT or len(images) < settings.DETECTOR_MIN_PARALLEL_THRESH: # Ensures we don't parallelize with streamlit, or with very few images
         for i in range(len(images)):
             result = parallel_get_lines(preds[i], orig_sizes[i])
             results.append(result)
     else:
-        with ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=settings.DETECTOR_POSTPROCESSING_CPU_WORKERS) as executor:
+        max_workers = min(settings.DETECTOR_POSTPROCESSING_CPU_WORKERS, len(images))
+        with ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers) as executor:
             results = list(executor.map(parallel_get_lines, preds, orig_sizes))
 
     return results
diff --git a/surya/layout.py b/surya/layout.py
index fdb6ef4..68ed61b 100644
--- a/surya/layout.py
+++ b/surya/layout.py
@@ -186,13 +186,14 @@ def batch_layout_detection(images: List, model, processor, detection_results: Op
     id2label = model.config.id2label
 
     results = []
-    if settings.IN_STREAMLIT: # Ensures we don't parallelize with streamlit
+    if settings.IN_STREAMLIT or len(images) < settings.DETECTOR_MIN_PARALLEL_THRESH: # Ensures we don't parallelize with streamlit or too few images
         for i in range(len(images)):
             result = parallel_get_regions(preds[i], orig_sizes[i], id2label, detection_results[i] if detection_results else None)
             results.append(result)
     else:
         futures = []
-        with ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=settings.DETECTOR_POSTPROCESSING_CPU_WORKERS) as executor:
+        max_workers = min(settings.DETECTOR_POSTPROCESSING_CPU_WORKERS, len(images))
+        with ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers) as executor:
             for i in range(len(images)):
                 future = executor.submit(parallel_get_regions, preds[i], orig_sizes[i], id2label, detection_results[i] if detection_results else None)
                 futures.append(future)
diff --git a/surya/settings.py b/surya/settings.py
index 3d01f06..4ffdac4 100644
--- a/surya/settings.py
+++ b/surya/settings.py
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ def TORCH_DEVICE_DETECTION(self) -> str:
     DETECTOR_TEXT_THRESHOLD: float = 0.6 # Threshold for text detection (above this is considered text)
     DETECTOR_BLANK_THRESHOLD: float = 0.35 # Threshold for blank space (below this is considered blank)
     DETECTOR_POSTPROCESSING_CPU_WORKERS: int = min(8, os.cpu_count()) # Number of workers for postprocessing
+    DETECTOR_MIN_PARALLEL_THRESH: int = 3 # Minimum number of images before we parallelize
 
     # Text recognition
     RECOGNITION_MODEL_CHECKPOINT: str = "vikp/surya_rec"