diff --git a/lib/net.js b/lib/net.js
index 2442bcdee36cd4..79692da3524ca9 100644
--- a/lib/net.js
+++ b/lib/net.js
@@ -1090,12 +1090,14 @@ function Server(options, connectionListener) {
     connectionListener = options;
     options = {};
     self.on('connection', connectionListener);
-  } else {
+  } else if (options == null || typeof options === 'object') {
     options = options || {};
 
     if (typeof connectionListener === 'function') {
       self.on('connection', connectionListener);
     }
+  } else {
+    throw new TypeError('options must be an object');
   }
 
   this._connections = 0;
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-net-server-options.js b/test/parallel/test-net-server-options.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..1445c3e6b8245f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-net-server-options.js
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const net = require('net');
+
+assert.throws(function() { net.createServer('path'); }, TypeError);
+assert.throws(function() { net.createServer(common.PORT); }, TypeError);