diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
index 12c9a972c1af..2a991acd43f1 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 import scala.collection.mutable
 import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
 
-import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.common.StatsSetupConst
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.{Path, PathFilter}
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.common.{FileUtils, StatsSetupConst}
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf.ConfVars
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.{IMetaStoreClient, TableType => HiveTableType}
@@ -616,6 +616,12 @@ private[hive] class HiveClientImpl(
     shim.createPartitions(client, db, table, parts, ignoreIfExists)
   }
 
+  @throws[Exception]
+  private def isExistPath(dirPath: Path): Boolean = {
+    val inpFs = dirPath.getFileSystem(conf)
+    inpFs.exists(dirPath)
+  }
+
   override def dropPartitions(
       db: String,
       table: String,
@@ -638,6 +644,17 @@ private[hive] class HiveClientImpl(
             s"No partition is dropped. One partition spec '$s' does not exist in table '$table' " +
             s"database '$db'")
         }
+        // Check whether the partition we are going to drop is empty.
+        // We make a dummy one for the empty partition. See [SPARK-29786] for more details.
+        parts.foreach { partition =>
+          val partPath = partition.getPath.head
+          if (!isExistPath(partPath)) {
+            val fs = partPath.getFileSystem(conf)
+            fs.mkdirs(partPath)
+            fs.deleteOnExit(partPath)
+          }
+          partition
+        }
         parts.map(_.getValues)
       }.distinct
     var droppedParts = ArrayBuffer.empty[java.util.List[String]]
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/VersionsSuite.scala b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/VersionsSuite.scala
index e3797041883a..b7936cbb9c4d 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/VersionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/VersionsSuite.scala
@@ -114,11 +114,12 @@ class VersionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with Logging {
 
   private var versionSpark: TestHiveVersion = null
 
+  private val hadoopConf = new Configuration()
+
   versions.foreach { version =>
     test(s"$version: create client") {
       client = null
       System.gc() // Hack to avoid SEGV on some JVM versions.
-      val hadoopConf = new Configuration()
       hadoopConf.set("test", "success")
       // Hive changed the default of datanucleus.schema.autoCreateAll from true to false and
       // hive.metastore.schema.verification from false to true since 2.0
@@ -531,6 +532,26 @@ class VersionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with Logging {
       assert(client.getPartitionOption("default", "src_part", spec).isEmpty)
     }
 
+    test(s"$version: dropPartitions when file not exists") {
+      val partitions = (1 to testPartitionCount).map { key2 =>
+        CatalogTablePartition(Map("key1" -> "1", "key2" -> key2.toString), storageFormat)
+      }
+      client.createPartitions("default", "src_part", partitions, ignoreIfExists = true)
+      val spec = Map("key1" -> "1", "key2" -> "2")
+      val hiveTable = client.getTable("default", "src_part")
+      val parts = client.getPartitions(hiveTable, Some(spec))
+      parts.foreach { partition =>
+        val partPath = new Path(partition.location)
+        val fs = partPath.getFileSystem(hadoopConf)
+        if (fs.exists(partPath)) {
+          fs.delete(partPath, true)
+        }
+      }
+      client.dropPartitions("default", "src_part", Seq(spec), ignoreIfNotExists = false,
+        purge = false, retainData = false)
+      assert(client.getPartitionOption("default", "src_part", spec).isEmpty)
+    }
+
     ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
     // Function related API
     ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////