diff --git a/packages/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts b/packages/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
index 04ba14afa17272..e5f7c6af1ff777 100644
--- a/packages/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
@@ -105,6 +105,11 @@ describe('css url() references', () => {
     expect(bg).toMatch(iconMatch)
   })
 
+  test('aliased', async () => {
+    const bg = await getBg('.css-url-aliased')
+    expect(bg).toMatch(assetMatch)
+  })
+
   if (isBuild) {
     test('preserve postfix query/hash', () => {
       expect(findAssetFile(/\.css$/, 'foo')).toMatch(`woff2?#iefix`)
diff --git a/packages/playground/assets/css/css-url.css b/packages/playground/assets/css/css-url.css
index 683305fa687b95..ae2dff3f633405 100644
--- a/packages/playground/assets/css/css-url.css
+++ b/packages/playground/assets/css/css-url.css
@@ -31,7 +31,13 @@
 }
 
 .css-url-same-line {
-  background: url('/nested/asset.png') top right / 10px no-repeat, url('/icon.png') bottom right / 10px no-repeat;
+  background: url('/nested/asset.png') top right / 10px no-repeat,
+    url('/icon.png') bottom right / 10px no-repeat;
+}
+
+.css-url-aliased {
+  background: url('@/asset.png');
+  background-size: 10px;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/packages/playground/assets/index.html b/packages/playground/assets/index.html
index eeed653201796c..1819dcf2b69a21 100644
--- a/packages/playground/assets/index.html
+++ b/packages/playground/assets/index.html
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ <h2>CSS url references</h2>
     >CSS background (multiple urls on same line)</span
   >
 </div>
+<div class="css-url-aliased">
+  <span style="background: #fff">CSS background (aliased)</span>
+</div>
 
 <h2>SVG Fragments</h2>
 <div>
diff --git a/packages/playground/assets/vite.config.js b/packages/playground/assets/vite.config.js
index 10096153d865d2..113191c246a4a8 100644
--- a/packages/playground/assets/vite.config.js
+++ b/packages/playground/assets/vite.config.js
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
+const path = require('path')
+
 /**
  * @type {import('vite').UserConfig}
  */
 module.exports = {
   base: '/foo/',
   publicDir: 'static',
+  resolve: {
+    alias: {
+      '@': path.resolve(__dirname, 'nested')
+    }
+  },
   build: {
     outDir: 'dist/foo',
     manifest: true
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/asset.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/asset.ts
index 7d368627aec5bb..0e426fd6e5d934 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/asset.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/asset.ts
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ export function fileToUrl(
   }
 }
 
-export function fileToDevUrl(id: string, config: ResolvedConfig) {
+function fileToDevUrl(id: string, config: ResolvedConfig) {
   let rtn: string
   if (checkPublicFile(id, config)) {
     // in public dir, keep the url as-is
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
index 700eb90f90014b..c5bfdb97e1e5f8 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ import { ResolveFn, ViteDevServer } from '../'
 import {
   getAssetFilename,
   assetUrlRE,
-  fileToDevUrl,
   registerAssetToChunk,
-  urlToBuiltUrl
+  fileToUrl,
+  checkPublicFile
 } from './asset'
 import MagicString from 'magic-string'
 import * as Postcss from 'postcss'
@@ -103,7 +103,12 @@ export function cssPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
   const moduleCache = new Map<string, Record<string, string>>()
   cssModulesCache.set(config, moduleCache)
 
-  const resolvers = createCSSResolvers(config)
+  const resolveUrl = config.createResolver({
+    preferRelative: true,
+    tryIndex: false,
+    extensions: []
+  })
+  const atImportResolvers = createCSSResolvers(config)
 
   return {
     name: 'vite:css',
@@ -117,27 +122,38 @@ export function cssPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
         return
       }
 
-      const urlReplacer: CssUrlReplacer = server
-        ? (url, importer) => {
-            if (url.startsWith('/')) {
-              return config.base + url.slice(1)
-            } else {
-              const filePath = normalizePath(
-                path.resolve(path.dirname(importer || id), url)
-              )
-              return fileToDevUrl(filePath, config)
-            }
-          }
-        : (url, importer) => {
-            return urlToBuiltUrl(url, importer || id, config, this)
-          }
+      const urlReplacer: CssUrlReplacer = async (url, importer) => {
+        if (checkPublicFile(url, config)) {
+          return config.base + url.slice(1)
+        }
+        const resolved = await resolveUrl(url, importer)
+        if (resolved) {
+          return fileToUrl(resolved, config, this)
+        }
+        return url
+      }
+
+      // const urlReplacer: CssUrlReplacer = server
+      //   ? (url, importer) => {
+      //       if (url.startsWith('/')) {
+      //         return config.base + url.slice(1)
+      //       } else {
+      //         const filePath = normalizePath(
+      //           path.resolve(path.dirname(importer || id), url)
+      //         )
+      //         return fileToDevUrl(filePath, config)
+      //       }
+      //     }
+      //   : (url, importer) => {
+      //       return urlToBuiltUrl(url, importer || id, config, this)
+      //     }
 
       const { code: css, modules, deps } = await compileCSS(
         id,
         raw,
         config,
         urlReplacer,
-        resolvers
+        atImportResolvers
       )
       if (modules) {
         moduleCache.set(id, modules)
@@ -416,13 +432,13 @@ export function cssPostPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
   }
 }
 
-interface CSSResolvers {
+interface CSSAtImportResolvers {
   css: ResolveFn
   sass: ResolveFn
   less: ResolveFn
 }
 
-function createCSSResolvers(config: ResolvedConfig): CSSResolvers {
+function createCSSResolvers(config: ResolvedConfig): CSSAtImportResolvers {
   let cssResolve: ResolveFn | undefined
   let sassResolve: ResolveFn | undefined
   let lessResolve: ResolveFn | undefined
@@ -471,7 +487,7 @@ async function compileCSS(
   code: string,
   config: ResolvedConfig,
   urlReplacer: CssUrlReplacer,
-  resolvers: CSSResolvers
+  atImportResolvers: CSSAtImportResolvers
 ): Promise<{
   code: string
   map?: SourceMap
@@ -530,7 +546,7 @@ async function compileCSS(
       code,
       config.root,
       opts,
-      resolvers
+      atImportResolvers
     )
     if (preprocessResult.errors.length) {
       throw preprocessResult.errors[0]
@@ -557,7 +573,10 @@ async function compileCSS(
     postcssPlugins.unshift(
       (await import('postcss-import')).default({
         async resolve(id, basedir) {
-          const resolved = await resolvers.css(id, path.join(basedir, '*'))
+          const resolved = await atImportResolvers.css(
+            id,
+            path.join(basedir, '*')
+          )
           if (resolved) {
             return path.resolve(resolved)
           }
@@ -799,7 +818,7 @@ type StylePreprocessor = (
     additionalData?: PreprocessorAdditionalData
     filename: string
   },
-  resolvers: CSSResolvers
+  resolvers: CSSAtImportResolvers
 ) => StylePreprocessorResults | Promise<StylePreprocessorResults>
 
 export interface StylePreprocessorResults {
@@ -954,13 +973,13 @@ let ViteLessManager: any
 function createViteLessPlugin(
   less: typeof Less,
   rootFile: string,
-  resolvers: CSSResolvers
+  resolvers: CSSAtImportResolvers
 ): Less.Plugin {
   if (!ViteLessManager) {
     ViteLessManager = class ViteManager extends less.FileManager {
       resolvers
       rootFile
-      constructor(rootFile: string, resolvers: CSSResolvers) {
+      constructor(rootFile: string, resolvers: CSSAtImportResolvers) {
         super()
         this.rootFile = rootFile
         this.resolvers = resolvers