In wireless sensor network, replacement of node’s battery is very tough task in hostile environments. Therefore, to maximize network lifetime is the ultimate solution. Dividing the sensing region of wireless sensor network into clusters is an excellent approach to gain high energy efficiency and to enhance lifetime of the network. On the other hand, heads of the cluster need additional energy because of additional work such as obtaining data from its member nodes, aggregation of their data, and finally sending it to the base station. To enhance the lifetime of these networks, proper selection of heads plays a vital role. In this paper, we propose proficient bee colony-clustering protocol (PBC-CP) which is based on artificial bee colony algorithm. In PBC-CP approach, we have taken important factors for selection of heads such as node’s energy, degree of node, and distance from base station to node. For transmitting the data from cluster head to base station, it chooses the energy-efficient path which further minimizes the energy consumption of sensor network. Simulation experiments show the effectiveness of our proposed approach.