We present a distributed topology control method that builds a virtual backbone in a wireless sensor network (WSN). It aims to reduce the communication overhead in the network. The method is based on the Connected Dominating Set (CDS) concept, which takes energy reserves of the individual nodes into consideration when constructing the virtual backbone. To achieve this, we have developed a novel algorithm called three-phase single initiator (TPSI). By using the TPSI algorithm, our method can build the virtual backbone in a fully distributed manner using localized information. It creates a small-size backbone, has low message overhead, and ensures that only the nodes with sufficient energy capacity are selected. It also allows the energy-exhausted nodes in the backbone to be replaced with new ones. Simulation results show that our algorithm performs better than the two leading distributed CDS algorithms with respect to the size of the backbone, message overhead and energy-efficiency. © 2012 IEEE.