diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/PartitioningUtils.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/PartitioningUtils.scala
index 379acb67f7..f9a2480695 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/PartitioningUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/PartitioningUtils.scala
@@ -486,7 +486,8 @@ object PartitioningUtils {
     val equality = columnNameEquality(caseSensitive)
     StructType(partitionColumns.map { col =>
       schema.find(f => equality(f.name, col)).getOrElse {
-        throw new AnalysisException(s"Partition column $col not found in schema $schema")
+        val schemaCatalog = schema.catalogString
+        throw new AnalysisException(s"Partition column `$col` not found in schema $schemaCatalog")
       }
     }).asNullable
   }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/SaveLoadSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/SaveLoadSuite.scala
index 773d34dfaf..12779b46bf 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/SaveLoadSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/sources/SaveLoadSuite.scala
@@ -126,4 +126,20 @@ class SaveLoadSuite extends DataSourceTest with SharedSQLContext with BeforeAndA
 
     checkLoad(df2, "jsonTable2")
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-23459: Improve error message when specified unknown column in partition columns") {
+    withTempDir { dir =>
+      val path = dir.getCanonicalPath
+      val unknown = "unknownColumn"
+      val df = Seq(1L -> "a").toDF("i", "j")
+      val schemaCatalog = df.schema.catalogString
+      val e = intercept[AnalysisException] {
+        df.write
+          .format("parquet")
+          .partitionBy(unknown)
+          .save(path)
+      }.getMessage
+      assert(e.contains(s"Partition column `$unknown` not found in schema $schemaCatalog"))
+    }
+  }
 }