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Description: Self-control is a core aspect of adaptive human behavior. It allows the attainment of personal goals by regulating unwanted thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Previous research highlighted the crucial role of cognitive control for explicitly pursued self-control and explicit emotion regulation strategies (such as cognitive reappraisal or attentional distraction). The present study investigated whether similar neural mechanisms would be involved in an implicit self-control task that acted as a covert emotion regulation strategy. Thirty-six female participants unscrambled sentences of either neutral (NREG) or neutral and self-control-related (REG) content prior to passively viewing negative and neutral pictures. Compared to the NREG condition, implicit induction of self-control (REG) reduced the amplitude of the Late Positive Potential to negative pictures, indicating successful emotion downregulation. In line with our main hypothesis, implicit self-control enhanced connectivity within the two cognitive control brain networks. Specifically, for the fronto-parietal network, increased theta connectivity from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the intraparietal cortex was observed. For the cingulo-opercular network, increased theta connectivity from dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) to the left anterior insula/frontal operculum (aI/fO) and from the right aI/fO to the dACC was observed. These effects were accompanied by a decrease in prestimulus alpha power in the right primary visual cortex, suggesting adjustment of attentional and perceptual processes in preparation for the upcoming affective stimulation. Together, our results indicate that self-control enhances cognitive control that is necessary for setting, maintaining, and monitoring the achievement of self-control behavior, as well as regulation of attentional and emotional processes.