She was bhajan singer Anup Jalota's first wife and married him (against his family's approval) while still a music student, but subsequently divorced him to marry Roop Kumar Rathod, (tabla player), playback singer, music director and a composer.

She started to perform at the age of 10 under the guidance of Gujarati music composer Shri Purshottam Upadhyay.

[10] Sunali Rathod also performed in a unique webcert called "She is a Winner" celebrating Women's day in 2011 alongside artists like Hema Sardesai, Kuhoo Gupta, Sunita Rao, Shibani Kashyap and many more.

[11] She recently released a Sufi album along with Roop Kumar Rathod called Kalmaa.

[9] Sunali Rathod was announced as the Best Ghazal singer award in 1986 for her debut album ‘Aaghaaz’.