diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
index 6d1e10a5f3845..7b6520458dbe8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
@@ -346,9 +346,13 @@ class SparkContext(config: SparkConf) extends Logging with ExecutorAllocationCli
   /** Control our logLevel. This overrides any user-defined log settings.
    * @param logLevel The desired log level as a string.
    * Valid log levels include: ALL, DEBUG, ERROR, FATAL, INFO, OFF, TRACE, WARN
-   * Invalid log level defaults to DEBUG
    */
   def setLogLevel(logLevel: String) {
+    val logLevels = Seq("ALL", "DEBUG", "ERROR", "FATAL", "INFO", "OFF", "TRACE", "WARN")
+    if (!logLevels.contains(logLevel)) {
+      throw new InvalidArgumentException(
+    s"Supplied level $logLevel did not match one of: ${validLevels.mkString(',')}")
+    }
     Utils.setLogLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.toLevel(logLevel))
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/java/JavaSparkContext.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/java/JavaSparkContext.scala
index c1f78cd891686..02e49a853c5f7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/java/JavaSparkContext.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/api/java/JavaSparkContext.scala
@@ -758,7 +758,6 @@ class JavaSparkContext(val sc: SparkContext)
   /** Control our logLevel. This overrides any user-defined log settings.
    * @param logLevel The desired log level as a string.
    * Valid log levels include: ALL, DEBUG, ERROR, FATAL, INFO, OFF, TRACE, WARN
-   * Invalid log level defaults to DEBUG
    */
   def setLogLevel(logLevel: String) {
     sc.setLogLevel(logLevel)
diff --git a/python/pyspark/context.py b/python/pyspark/context.py
index b27240a0c9a44..31992795a9e45 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/context.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/context.py
@@ -271,7 +271,6 @@ def setLogLevel(self, logLevel):
         """
         Control our logLevel. This overrides any user-defined log settings.
         Valid log levels include: ALL, DEBUG, ERROR, FATAL, INFO, OFF, TRACE, WARN
-        Invalid log level defaults to DEBUG
         """
         self._jsc.setLogLevel(logLevel)