The 36-year-old footballer failed to score in Portugal's first two 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers of this international break, but found the back of the net in his side's 3-1 victory over Luxembourg on Tuesday.
It was Ronaldo's first strike for A Selecao in this calendar year, marking the 18th successive year in which he has netted at least once for his national team.
Overall, Ronaldo has now scored 103 times for Portugal, extending his own record as Europe's most lethal scorer in international football history.
He also closed in on Daei's world record set in 2003, with the legendary Iran forward having netted an incredible 109 goals during an international career that spanned more than 16 years and 149 games.
Top all-time international goal scorers
Ali Daei, Iran: 109 goals in 149 caps
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal: 103 goals in 173 caps
Ferenc Puskas, Hungary: 84 goals in 85 caps
Kunishige Kamamoto, Japan: 80 goals in 84 caps
Godfrey Chitalu, Zambia: 79 goals in 111 caps
Hussein Saeed, Iraq: 78 goals in 137 caps
Pele, Brazil: 77 goals in 92 caps