diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Transform/IR/TransformOps.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Transform/IR/TransformOps.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Transform/IR/TransformOps.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Transform/IR/TransformOps.cpp
@@ -1009,6 +1009,17 @@
     return diag;
   }
 
+  if (!topLevelOp) {
+    if (auto *parentOp = getOperation()->getParentOp()) {
+      if (!parentOp->hasTrait<
+              ::mlir::transform::PossibleTopLevelTransformOpTrait>()) {
+        InFlightDiagnostic diag = emitOpError()
+                                  << "expects at least one non-pattern op";
+        return diag;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   if (auto parent = getOperation()->getParentOfType<WithPDLPatternsOp>()) {
     InFlightDiagnostic diag = emitOpError() << "cannot be nested";
     diag.attachNote(parent.getLoc()) << "parent operation";
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/Transform/ops-invalid.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/Transform/ops-invalid.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/Transform/ops-invalid.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/Transform/ops-invalid.mlir
@@ -126,6 +126,17 @@
 
 // -----
 
+// expected-error @below {{op expects at least one non-pattern op}}
+transform.with_pdl_patterns {
+^bb0(%arg0: !pdl.operation):
+  pdl.pattern @some : benefit(1) {
+    %0 = pdl.operation "test.foo"
+    pdl.rewrite %0 with "transform.dialect"
+  }
+}
+
+// -----
+
 // expected-error @below {{expects at least one region}}
 "transform.test_transform_unrestricted_op_no_interface"() : () -> ()