diff --git a/lib/net.js b/lib/net.js
index 5e653c61d2106c..4f1395ec2ed73a 100644
--- a/lib/net.js
+++ b/lib/net.js
@@ -912,8 +912,9 @@ Socket.prototype.connect = function(options, cb) {
     this._sockname = null;
   }
 
-  var pipe = !!options.path;
-  debug('pipe', pipe, options.path);
+  const path = options.path;
+  var pipe = !!path;
+  debug('pipe', pipe, path);
 
   if (!this._handle) {
     this._handle = pipe ? new Pipe() : new TCP();
@@ -930,7 +931,10 @@ Socket.prototype.connect = function(options, cb) {
   this.writable = true;
 
   if (pipe) {
-    connect(this, options.path);
+    if (typeof path !== 'string') {
+      throw new TypeError('"path" option must be a string: ' + path);
+    }
+    connect(this, path);
   } else {
     lookupAndConnect(this, options);
   }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-net-better-error-messages-path.js b/test/parallel/test-net-better-error-messages-path.js
index f4d00c7aebf055..5f6203a5c2fe45 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-net-better-error-messages-path.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-net-better-error-messages-path.js
@@ -2,12 +2,21 @@
 const common = require('../common');
 const net = require('net');
 const assert = require('assert');
-const fp = '/tmp/fadagagsdfgsdf';
-const c = net.connect(fp);
 
-c.on('connect', common.mustNotCall());
+{
+  const fp = '/tmp/fadagagsdfgsdf';
+  const c = net.connect(fp);
 
-c.on('error', common.mustCall(function(e) {
-  assert.strictEqual(e.code, 'ENOENT');
-  assert.strictEqual(e.message, `connect ENOENT ${fp}`);
-}));
+  c.on('connect', common.mustNotCall());
+  c.on('error', common.mustCall(function(e) {
+    assert.strictEqual(e.code, 'ENOENT');
+    assert.strictEqual(e.message, `connect ENOENT ${fp}`);
+  }));
+}
+
+{
+  assert.throws(
+    () => net.createConnection({ path: {} }),
+    /"path" option must be a string: \[object Object]/
+  );
+}