diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/mime_responds.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/mime_responds.rb
index 140209a225..d492b6c258 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/mime_responds.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/mime_responds.rb
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ module ActionController #:nodoc:
     end
 
     module InstanceMethods
-      def respond_to(&block)
+      def respond_to(*types, &block)
+        raise ArgumentError, "respond_to takes either types or a block, never bot" unless types.any? ^ block
+        block ||= lambda { |responder| types.each { |type| responder.send(type) } }
         responder = Responder.new(block.binding)
-        yield responder
+        block.call(responder)
         responder.respond
       end
     end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/mime_responds_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/mime_responds_test.rb
index a2b8eaad60..640bc900a0 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/controller/mime_responds_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/mime_responds_test.rb
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ class RespondToController < ActionController::Base
     end
   end
   
+  def using_defaults_with_type_list
+    respond_to(:html, :js, :xml)
+  end
+  
   def using_argument_defaults
     person_in_xml = { :name => "David" }.to_xml(:root => "person")
     respond_to do |type|
@@ -155,6 +159,20 @@ class MimeControllerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal "<p>Hello world!</p>\n", @response.body
   end
   
+  def test_using_defaults_with_type_list
+    @request.env["HTTP_ACCEPT"] = "*/*"
+    get :using_defaults_with_type_list
+    assert_equal 'Hello world!', @response.body
+
+    @request.env["HTTP_ACCEPT"] = "text/javascript"
+    get :using_defaults_with_type_list
+    assert_equal '$("body").visualEffect("highlight");', @response.body
+
+    @request.env["HTTP_ACCEPT"] = "application/xml"
+    get :using_defaults_with_type_list
+    assert_equal "<p>Hello world!</p>\n", @response.body
+  end
+  
   def test_using_argument_defaults
     @request.env["HTTP_ACCEPT"] = "application/xml"
     get :using_argument_defaults