Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are crucial for establishing adaptable and scalable communication infrastructures among interconnected devices. Effective clustering and channel allocation are vital for enhancing WMN performance by addressing energy efficiency, latency, throughput, and interference challenges. Proper clustering facilitates the organization of network nodes into cohesive groups, enhancing communication efficiency and resource utilization. Additionally, channel allocation strategies ensure minimized collisions and improved overall network throughput, enhancing network stability and reliability. Existing approaches, such as clique-based channel assignment (CCCA) and two-hop neighbor clustering, present complexity, and interference level limitations. The significant contribution of this paper is to introduce a novel approach focused on clustering and channel assignment, referred to as enhanced clustering and channel allocation (ECCA), to optimize WMN performance—the clustering technique groups nodes based on maximal cliques in one-hop neighbors. Furthermore, channel assignment strategies are employed to minimize collisions and improve overall network throughput. The performance of ECCA is compared with state-of-the-art clique-based channel assignment (CCCA) in terms of the modularity, average number of nodes per cluster, average node degree, and coefficient of variance.