diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Affine/IR/AffineOps.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Affine/IR/AffineOps.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Affine/IR/AffineOps.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Affine/IR/AffineOps.cpp
@@ -1628,7 +1628,8 @@
 }
 
 namespace {
-/// This is a pattern to fold trivially empty loops.
+/// This is a pattern to fold trivially empty loop bodies.
+/// TODO: This should be moved into the folding hook.
 struct AffineForEmptyLoopFolder : public OpRewritePattern<AffineForOp> {
   using OpRewritePattern<AffineForOp>::OpRewritePattern;
 
@@ -1637,7 +1638,8 @@
     // Check that the body only contains a yield.
     if (!llvm::hasSingleElement(*forOp.getBody()))
       return failure();
-    rewriter.eraseOp(forOp);
+    // The initial values of the iteration arguments would be the op's results.
+    rewriter.replaceOp(forOp, forOp.getIterOperands());
     return success();
   }
 };
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/Affine/canonicalize.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/Affine/canonicalize.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/Affine/canonicalize.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/Affine/canonicalize.mlir
@@ -460,14 +460,18 @@
 
 // -----
 
-// CHECK-LABEL:  func @fold_empty_loop() {
-func @fold_empty_loop() {
-  // CHECK-NOT: affine.for
+// CHECK-LABEL:  func @fold_empty_loops()
+func @fold_empty_loops() -> index {
+  %c0 = constant 0 : index
   affine.for %i = 0 to 10 {
   }
-  return
+  %res = affine.for %i = 0 to 10 iter_args(%arg = %c0) -> index {
+    affine.yield %arg : index
+  }
+  // CHECK-NEXT: %[[zero:.*]] = constant 0
+  // CHECK-NEXT: return %[[zero]]
+  return %res : index
 }
-// CHECK: return
 
 // -----