diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasing.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasing.scala
index 9facae3b57..e2553f7832 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasing.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasing.scala
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import scala.collection
 import scala.collection.mutable
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.aggregate.AggregateFunction
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.logical._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.internal.SQLConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
@@ -258,6 +259,13 @@ object NestedColumnAliasing {
       .filter(!_.references.subsetOf(exclusiveAttrSet))
       .groupBy(_.references.head.canonicalized.asInstanceOf[Attribute])
       .flatMap { case (attr: Attribute, nestedFields: collection.Seq[ExtractValue]) =>
+
+        // Check if `ExtractValue` expressions contain any aggregate functions in their tree. Those
+        // that do should not have an alias generated as it can lead to pushing the aggregate down
+        // into a projection.
+        def containsAggregateFunction(ev: ExtractValue): Boolean =
+          ev.find(_.isInstanceOf[AggregateFunction]).isDefined
+
         // Remove redundant [[ExtractValue]]s if they share the same parent nest field.
         // For example, when `a.b` and `a.b.c` are in project list, we only need to alias `a.b`.
         // Because `a.b` requires all of the inner fields of `b`, we cannot prune `a.b.c`.
@@ -268,7 +276,10 @@ object NestedColumnAliasing {
             val child = e.children.head
             nestedFields.forall(f => child.find(_.semanticEquals(f)).isEmpty)
           case _ => true
-        }.distinct
+        }
+          .distinct
+          // Discard [[ExtractValue]]s that contain aggregate functions.
+          .filterNot(containsAggregateFunction)
 
         // If all nested fields of `attr` are used, we don't need to introduce new aliases.
         // By default, the [[ColumnPruning]] rule uses `attr` already.
@@ -276,7 +287,7 @@ object NestedColumnAliasing {
         // nested field once.
         val numUsedNestedFields = dedupNestedFields.map(_.canonicalized).distinct
           .map { nestedField => totalFieldNum(nestedField.dataType) }.sum
-        if (numUsedNestedFields < totalFieldNum(attr.dataType)) {
+        if (dedupNestedFields.nonEmpty && numUsedNestedFields < totalFieldNum(attr.dataType)) {
           Some((attr, dedupNestedFields.toSeq))
         } else {
           None
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasingSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasingSuite.scala
index e49e028423..40ab72c89f 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasingSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/NestedColumnAliasingSuite.scala
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.optimizer
 import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.SchemaPruningTest
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.SimpleAnalyzer
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.dsl.expressions._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.dsl.plans._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
@@ -763,6 +764,32 @@ class NestedColumnAliasingSuite extends SchemaPruningTest {
         $"_extract_search_params.col2".as("col2")).analyze
     comparePlans(optimized, query)
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-36677: NestedColumnAliasing should not push down aggregate functions into " +
+    "projections") {
+    val nestedRelation = LocalRelation(
+      'a.struct(
+        'c.struct(
+          'e.string),
+        'd.string),
+      'b.string)
+
+    val plan = nestedRelation
+      .select($"a", $"b")
+      .groupBy($"b")(max($"a").getField("c").getField("e"))
+      .analyze
+
+    val optimized = Optimize.execute(plan)
+
+    // The plan should not contain aggregation functions inside the projection
+    SimpleAnalyzer.checkAnalysis(optimized)
+
+    val expected = nestedRelation
+      .groupBy($"b")(max($"a").getField("c").getField("e"))
+      .analyze
+
+    comparePlans(optimized, expected)
+  }
 }
 
 object NestedColumnAliasingSuite {