diff --git a/quixstreams/dataframe/dataframe.py b/quixstreams/dataframe/dataframe.py
index 8840bfe3e..9dc0bf034 100644
--- a/quixstreams/dataframe/dataframe.py
+++ b/quixstreams/dataframe/dataframe.py
@@ -933,6 +933,8 @@ def drop(self, columns: Union[str, List[str]]) -> Self:
         :return: a new StreamingDataFrame instance
         """
         if isinstance(columns, list):
+            if not columns:
+                return self
             if not all(isinstance(s, str) for s in columns):
                 raise TypeError(f"column list must contain strings only")
         elif isinstance(columns, str):
diff --git a/tests/test_quixstreams/test_dataframe/test_dataframe.py b/tests/test_quixstreams/test_dataframe/test_dataframe.py
index ec43fd37b..20b52a566 100644
--- a/tests/test_quixstreams/test_dataframe/test_dataframe.py
+++ b/tests/test_quixstreams/test_dataframe/test_dataframe.py
@@ -392,6 +392,16 @@ def test_drop_invalid_columns(self, dataframe_factory, columns):
         with pytest.raises(TypeError):
             sdf.drop(columns)
 
+    def test_drop_empty_list(self, dataframe_factory):
+        """
+        Dropping an empty list is ignored entirely.
+        """
+        sdf = dataframe_factory()
+        pre_drop_stream = sdf.stream.tree()
+        sdf = sdf.drop([])
+        post_drop_stream = sdf.stream.tree()
+        assert pre_drop_stream == post_drop_stream
+
 
 class TestStreamingDataFrameApplyExpand:
     def test_apply_expand(self, dataframe_factory):