The Bluebird made one change from the side that beat Blackpool in midweek, with Joe Ledley slotting in at full-back and Peter Whittingham starting on the left flank.
Wolves settled better with the advantage of a swirling wind and they opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a goal from Chris Iwelumo.
A long ball out of defence wasn't cut out by Roger Johnson and Iwelumo was able to run past him, bare down on goal and shoot beyond Tom Heaton.
It quickly became worse for the Bluebirds as Wolves doubled their lead in the eighth minute. With the City defence trying to play offside, Darren Purse was slow to move out and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake had a clear run before shooting across Heaton and into the far corner.
The Bluebirds battled away with Ross McCormack busy up front, but with Michael Mancienne and Richard Stearman outstanding in the centre of defence the home side found it difficult to carve out any openings.
City suffered a blow when Jay Bothroyd limped off to be replaced by Miguel Comminges, but it was the former Swindon player who set up a goal for the home side.
He slid a pass down the left flank to Paul Parry and his cross was met by McCormack who rifled in his 12th goal of the season.
Cardiff pounded away at the Wolves defence without making much headway and early in the second half they suffered a second blow when McCormack limped off with what looked like a hamstring problem.
The loss of City's two main strikers did not help their cause, but they still battled away in an effort to get on terms.
Both goalmouths were kept busy in the closing stages, but Cardiff were unable to get the equaliser their performance deserved.