The Australian held off pressure from Mercedes' Nico Rosberg in the latter stages at Spa to win his second-consecutive race and his third of the season.
Rosberg collided with team-mate Lewis Hamilton early on before the standings leader recovered to second place and challenged Ricciardo for the lead.
After the 25-year-old managed to see out the victory without the need for fresh tyres despite ever-increasing pressure from Rosberg, the victor felt it was always a case of keeping composed late on.
"It is a bit different when you lead the race for that long, it's more about composure and trying to keep steady," he said.
"Once Nico went in I knew he would be quick at the end so I had to keep my pace up to stay ahead of him.
"When you are leading the first thing is you hope everything holds together, mechanically you hope everything gets you to the finish line but certainly when you are in the lead the chequered flag can't come soon enough."
Rosberg was able to extend his lead in the standings following Hamilton's eventual retirement, which came about after a collision in which the German sought to overtake his team-mate.
While Hamilton suffered a punctured tyre, Rosberg's wing was damaged and the runner-up was greeted with a mixed reception on the podium as a result of the incident.
However, Rosberg looked to play down the incident, after a season in which the pair's rivalry has been a much-discussed topic.
"I got a good run on Lewis and tried to go round the outside and we just touched in the end unfortunately and it hurt both of our races, but that's just how it goes," he said.
"I have not seen it yet so it wouldn't be good of me to comment on it, I will have a look at it and then speak about it.
"I was pretty confident [we could get a one-two as] we had good race speed but unfortunately it didn't work out for us today."