Roger Johnson celebrates his goal with Jay Bothroyd and Joe Ledley
Goals in either half from Roger Johnson and Michael Chopra saw Cardiff climb above Preston into the play-off zone.
The Bluebirds suffered an early blow when Ross McCormack went off with a hamstring injury, replaced by Chopra.
Johnson rose above the static Preston defence to head home Wayne Routledge's tantalising free-kick from the right.
The win was sealed when Jay Bothroyd was felled by Youl Mawene after a powerful burst into the box, Chopra converting coolly from the spot.
Cardiff manager Dave Jones: "It was scrappy but once we got our noses in front we dominated the game.
"We were playing a good side on the back of a strong run. It wasn't the prettiest but once we earned the right to play we looked in control.
"We have beaten a team around us, something we haven't done all season. It's tight and a strong division.
"We patched up 'Chops' as we haven't seen him all week. He was up at Sunderland for treatment and then he phoned up Thursday evening saying he had been sick.
"He was throwing up and we told him to stay away from the place and see how he was before the game.
"But as we have a lot of injuries I wanted to sit up him on the bench but we needed him earlier than we would have hoped."
Preston manager Alan Irvine: "We didn't play all that badly. We now have two home games coming up and I told the players they have to lift themselves again.
"We need to get another run started now. They scored just before the break, which was a blow, and we had to come out and attack.
"We were vulnerable on the counter-attack in a place which is very hard to come.
"We have a good record of coming back from behind but we were on the front foot until the penalty. We were left with an uphill battle. We are not too downbeat as there were still plenty of positives."
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