Peter Moores' men completed a thumping 266-run success over the tourists in the third Test at Southampton to level the five-match series 1-1.
Moeen Ali was the star in India's second innings, taking 6-67 as the visitors crumbled to 178 all out before lunch.
It was James Anderson who picked up the man of the match award, though, after his first-innings 5-53 set up England's mammoth lead and he then claimed another two wickets in the second innings.
England could be without the 32-year-old seamer for the next Test at Old Trafford, starting next week, pending the result of a disciplinary hearing on Friday following an incident with India's Ravindra Jadeja.
Anderson is alleged to have "abused and pushed" Jadeja in the pavilion stairwell as the players made their way off for lunch on day two of the first Test of the series at Trent Bridge.
The Lancashire paceman's absence would be a huge blow to England, who ended a dismal run of 10 Tests without victory on Thursday.
England coach Peter Moores was thrilled with the manner in which his side responded to their second Test defeat at Lord's and hopes the victory could be a turning point.
"I'm pleased, very pleased for the lads and everyone else in the set-up," Moores told Sky Sports. "Everyone has been working very hard over the last few months to get a win.
"It was important to get back into the series, get it back to 1-1 with two to play. That was something that we were aiming for in this Test match.
"We needed a win, of that there was no doubt and get some confidence. You're trying to get some connections to people about how you do things and I think there's enough from this game and how we played that we can talk about after this that if we play this sort of cricket we've got a great chance of winning Test matches.
"If you don't get over the line it's not as easy for maybe a young player to actually understand that actually this is the way we've got to play our cricket if we're to be successful."
England squad for the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford:
Alastair Cook (Essex) (Capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Sam Robson (Middlesex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).