diff --git a/src/transformers/pipelines/image_text_to_text.py b/src/transformers/pipelines/image_text_to_text.py
index 6b743997f5ee..ea590b8314e8 100644
--- a/src/transformers/pipelines/image_text_to_text.py
+++ b/src/transformers/pipelines/image_text_to_text.py
@@ -71,11 +71,11 @@ def retrieve_images_in_messages(
     Retrieve and combine images from the chat and the images passed as input.
     """
     if images is None:
-        images = []
+        retrieved_images = None
     elif not isinstance(images, Iterable):
         images = [images]
+        retrieved_images = []
     idx_images = 0
-    retrieved_images = []
     for message in messages:
         for content in message["content"]:
             if isinstance(content, dict):
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ def retrieve_images_in_messages(
                         )
 
     # The number of images passed should be consistent with the number of images in the chat without an image key
-    if idx_images != len(images):
+    if images is not None and idx_images != len(images):
         raise ValueError(
             "The number of images in the chat messages should be the same as the number of images passed to the pipeline."
         )
@@ -356,7 +356,8 @@ def preprocess(self, inputs=None, timeout=None, continue_final_message=None, **p
                 inputs_text = inputs["text"]
                 images = inputs["images"]
 
-            images = load_images(images, timeout=timeout)
+            if images is not None:
+                images = load_images(images, timeout=timeout)
 
         # if batched text inputs, we set padding to True unless specified otherwise
         if isinstance(text, (list, tuple)) and len(text) > 1:
diff --git a/tests/pipelines/test_pipelines_image_text_to_text.py b/tests/pipelines/test_pipelines_image_text_to_text.py
index 903e90919c2c..3895c61774c7 100644
--- a/tests/pipelines/test_pipelines_image_text_to_text.py
+++ b/tests/pipelines/test_pipelines_image_text_to_text.py
@@ -66,6 +66,78 @@ def run_pipeline_test(self, pipe, examples):
             ],
         )
 
+    @require_torch
+    def test_small_model_pt_token_text_only(self):
+        pipe = pipeline("image-text-to-text", model="llava-hf/llava-interleave-qwen-0.5b-hf")
+        text = "What is the capital of France? Assistant:"
+
+        outputs = pipe(text=text)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            outputs,
+            [
+                {
+                    "input_text": "What is the capital of France? Assistant:",
+                    "generated_text": "What is the capital of France? Assistant: The capital of France is Paris.",
+                }
+            ],
+        )
+
+        messages = [
+            [
+                {
+                    "role": "user",
+                    "content": [
+                        {"type": "text", "text": "Write a poem on Hugging Face, the company"},
+                    ],
+                },
+            ],
+            [
+                {
+                    "role": "user",
+                    "content": [
+                        {"type": "text", "text": "What is the capital of France?"},
+                    ],
+                },
+            ],
+        ]
+        outputs = pipe(text=messages)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            outputs,
+            [
+                [
+                    {
+                        "input_text": [
+                            {
+                                "role": "user",
+                                "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "Write a poem on Hugging Face, the company"}],
+                            }
+                        ],
+                        "generated_text": [
+                            {
+                                "role": "user",
+                                "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "Write a poem on Hugging Face, the company"}],
+                            },
+                            {
+                                "role": "assistant",
+                                "content": "Hugging Face, a company of minds\nWith tools and services that make our lives easier\nFrom",
+                            },
+                        ],
+                    }
+                ],
+                [
+                    {
+                        "input_text": [
+                            {"role": "user", "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "What is the capital of France?"}]}
+                        ],
+                        "generated_text": [
+                            {"role": "user", "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "What is the capital of France?"}]},
+                            {"role": "assistant", "content": "Paris"},
+                        ],
+                    }
+                ],
+            ],
+        )
+
     @require_torch
     def test_small_model_pt_token(self):
         pipe = pipeline("image-text-to-text", model="llava-hf/llava-interleave-qwen-0.5b-hf")