diff --git a/cmd/oras/root/manifest/index/update.go b/cmd/oras/root/manifest/index/update.go
index 16ab58518..145df88c4 100644
--- a/cmd/oras/root/manifest/index/update.go
+++ b/cmd/oras/root/manifest/index/update.go
@@ -67,6 +67,11 @@ Example - add one manifest from an index:
 }
 
 func updateIndex(cmd *cobra.Command, opts updateOptions) error {
+	// if --add is not used, then there's nothing to update
+	if !cmd.Flags().Changed("add") {
+		opts.Println("--add is not used. There's nothing to update.")
+		return nil
+	}
 	ctx, logger := command.GetLogger(cmd, &opts.Common)
 	target, err := opts.NewTarget(opts.Common, logger)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/test/e2e/suite/command/manifest_index.go b/test/e2e/suite/command/manifest_index.go
index ba47b0263..5344fe4c7 100644
--- a/test/e2e/suite/command/manifest_index.go
+++ b/test/e2e/suite/command/manifest_index.go
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ var _ = Describe("1.1 registry users:", func() {
 			ORAS("manifest", "fetch", RegistryRef(ZOTHost, ImageRepo, "update-add")).
 				MatchKeyWords("amd64", "arm64", "v7").Exec()
 		})
-		It("should update by specifying index digest", func() {
+		It("should update by specifying the index digest", func() {
 			// create an index for testing purpose
 			ORAS("manifest", "index", "create", RegistryRef(ZOTHost, ImageRepo, ""),
 				string(multi_arch.LinuxAMD64.Digest), string(multi_arch.LinuxARM64.Digest)).Exec()
@@ -131,6 +131,10 @@ var _ = Describe("1.1 registry users:", func() {
 			ORAS("manifest", "fetch", RegistryRef(ZOTHost, ImageRepo, "sha256:84887718c9e61daa0f1996aad3ae2eb10db15dcbdab394e4b2dfee7967c55f2c")).
 				MatchKeyWords("amd64", "arm64", "v7").Exec()
 		})
+		It("should tell user nothing to update if no update flags are used", func() {
+			ORAS("manifest", "index", "update", RegistryRef(ZOTHost, ImageRepo, "nothing-to-update")).
+				MatchKeyWords("nothing to update").Exec()
+		})
 		It("should fail if empty reference is given", func() {
 			ORAS("manifest", "index", "update", RegistryRef(ZOTHost, ImageRepo, ""),
 				"--add", string(multi_arch.LinuxARMV7.Digest)).ExpectFailure().