It was a fair enough result as for 20 minutes in the second half Brentford had run Yeovil ragged forcing a dozen corners.
It was from one of them - taken on the left by Paul Brooker - that Rhodes got to the far post to finish when Sam Sodje flicked on.
Yeovil were weakened by injuries and their problems were compounded in the first half when full-back Kevin Amankwaah was carried off with an ankle injury.
Yeovil were already a goal down. Isaiah Rankin and Lloyd Owusu had proved a real handful and this pair produced the goal with Owusu flicking on a long free-kick from keeper Stuart Nelson and Rankin finished from close range.
Yeovil's leveller in the 25th minute followed a free-kick awarded for a foul that put Amankwaah out of the game.
Nathan Jones' free kick was knocked back to him and when he lobbed to the far post skipper Terry Skiverton was well placed to head in.
The first part of the second half saw the Bees force corner after corner and it was from their 12th of the match that Rhodes got his winner.
Yeovil came back to stage a strong finish and Nelson made two superb saves when Arron Davies was clear on goal in the 64th and 66th minutes.
On the first occasion Davies' speed took him clear to pick up a super pass from Andy Lindegaard.
Two minutes later it was Paul Terry who provided the pass for the ex-Southampton youngster - whose hat trick beat Chesterfield on Saturday - but he couldn't finish.