diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/catalog/CatalogV2Util.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/catalog/CatalogV2Util.scala
index c5888d72c2b23..645ed9e6bb0c1 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/catalog/CatalogV2Util.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/catalog/CatalogV2Util.scala
@@ -178,16 +178,19 @@ private[sql] object CatalogV2Util {
      schema: StructType,
      changes: Seq[TableChange]): Array[Transform] = {
 
-    val newPartitioning = partitioning.filterNot(_.isInstanceOf[ClusterByTransform]).toBuffer
-    changes.foreach {
-      case clusterBy: ClusterBy =>
-        newPartitioning += ClusterBySpec.extractClusterByTransform(
+    var newPartitioning = partitioning
+    // If there is a clusterBy change (only the first one), we overwrite the existing
+    // clustering columns.
+    val clusterByOpt = changes.collectFirst { case c: ClusterBy => c }
+    clusterByOpt.foreach { clusterBy =>
+      newPartitioning = partitioning.map {
+        case _: ClusterByTransform => ClusterBySpec.extractClusterByTransform(
           schema, ClusterBySpec(clusterBy.clusteringColumns.toIndexedSeq), conf.resolver)
-
-      case _ =>
-      // ignore other changes
+        case other => other
+      }
     }
-    newPartitioning.toArray
+
+    newPartitioning
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/command/DescribeTableSuiteBase.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/command/DescribeTableSuiteBase.scala
index 2588aa4313fa7..02e8a5e689998 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/command/DescribeTableSuiteBase.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/command/DescribeTableSuiteBase.scala
@@ -181,8 +181,9 @@ trait DescribeTableSuiteBase extends QueryTest with DDLCommandTestUtils {
 
   test("describe a clustered table") {
     withNamespaceAndTable("ns", "tbl") { tbl =>
-      sql(s"CREATE TABLE $tbl (col1 STRING COMMENT 'this is comment', col2 struct<x:int, y:int>) " +
+      sql(s"CREATE TABLE $tbl (col1 STRING, col2 struct<x:int, y:int>) " +
         s"$defaultUsing CLUSTER BY (col1, col2.x)")
+      sql(s"ALTER TABLE $tbl ALTER COLUMN col1 COMMENT 'this is comment';")
       val descriptionDf = sql(s"DESC $tbl")
       assert(descriptionDf.schema.map(field => (field.name, field.dataType)) === Seq(
         ("col_name", StringType),