diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/StaticSQLConf.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/StaticSQLConf.scala
index 66ac9ddb21aa..3f10e2d88afe 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/StaticSQLConf.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/StaticSQLConf.scala
@@ -36,9 +36,12 @@ object StaticSQLConf {
     .createWithDefault(Utils.resolveURI("spark-warehouse").toString)
 
   val CATALOG_IMPLEMENTATION = buildStaticConf("spark.sql.catalogImplementation")
-    .internal()
+    .doc("Spark built-in implementation is in-memory and hive, " +
+      "when set to yourImpl(can be any words), " +
+      "you need also provide following configurations to make everything going: " +
+      "`spark.sql.catalogImplementation.yourImpl.builder` " +
+      "`spark.sql.catalogImplementation.yourImpl.externalCatalog`.")
     .stringConf
-    .checkValues(Set("hive", "in-memory"))
     .createWithDefault("in-memory")
 
   val GLOBAL_TEMP_DATABASE = buildStaticConf("spark.sql.globalTempDatabase")
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
index bd2bc1c0ad5d..aa603f2faed2 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
@@ -1026,6 +1026,12 @@ object SparkSession extends Logging {
     conf.get(CATALOG_IMPLEMENTATION) match {
       case "hive" => HIVE_SESSION_STATE_BUILDER_CLASS_NAME
       case "in-memory" => classOf[SessionStateBuilder].getCanonicalName
+      case other => conf.getOption(s"spark.sql.catalogImplementation.$other.builder")
+          .getOrElse {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+          s"You need to configure spark.sql.catalogImplementation.$other.builder when " +
+            s"`$other` configured by spark.sql.catalogImplementation is not in-memory nor hive.")
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SharedState.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SharedState.scala
index de3805e10580..08e3a0c15c68 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SharedState.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SharedState.scala
@@ -217,6 +217,12 @@ object SharedState extends Logging {
     conf.get(CATALOG_IMPLEMENTATION) match {
       case "hive" => HIVE_EXTERNAL_CATALOG_CLASS_NAME
       case "in-memory" => classOf[InMemoryCatalog].getCanonicalName
+      case other => conf.getOption(s"spark.sql.catalogImplementation.$other.externalCatalog")
+          .getOrElse {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+          s"You need to configure spark.sql.catalogImplementation.$other.externalCatalog when " +
+            s"`$other` configured by spark.sql.catalogImplementation is not in-memory nor hive.")
+      }
     }
   }