diff --git a/builtin/grep.c b/builtin/grep.c
index aa7435f380e95d87982cd1ae71e91bc53e77af50..111b6f6cf1a61b0fb481101fcdc5a9f3f48c4650 100644
--- a/builtin/grep.c
+++ b/builtin/grep.c
@@ -522,12 +522,14 @@ static int grep_objects(struct grep_opt *opt, const struct pathspec *pathspec,
 }
 
 static int grep_directory(struct grep_opt *opt, const struct pathspec *pathspec,
-			  int exc_std)
+			  int exc_std, int use_index)
 {
 	struct dir_struct dir;
 	int i, hit = 0;
 
 	memset(&dir, 0, sizeof(dir));
+	if (!use_index)
+		dir.flags |= DIR_NO_GITLINKS;
 	if (exc_std)
 		setup_standard_excludes(&dir);
 
@@ -902,7 +904,7 @@ int cmd_grep(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		int use_exclude = (opt_exclude < 0) ? use_index : !!opt_exclude;
 		if (list.nr)
 			die(_("--no-index or --untracked cannot be used with revs."));
-		hit = grep_directory(&opt, &pathspec, use_exclude);
+		hit = grep_directory(&opt, &pathspec, use_exclude, use_index);
 	} else if (0 <= opt_exclude) {
 		die(_("--[no-]exclude-standard cannot be used for tracked contents."));
 	} else if (!list.nr) {
diff --git a/t/t7810-grep.sh b/t/t7810-grep.sh
index b540944408a6feb35f28ff7e18601db7a29f8635..1e72971a165efc127e6bda24fb0e4a3852d3c543 100755
--- a/t/t7810-grep.sh
+++ b/t/t7810-grep.sh
@@ -905,6 +905,33 @@ test_expect_success 'inside git repository but with --no-index' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'grep --no-index descends into repos, but not .git' '
+	rm -fr non &&
+	mkdir -p non/git &&
+	(
+		GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES="$(pwd)/non" &&
+		export GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES &&
+		cd non/git &&
+
+		echo magic >file &&
+		git init repo &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+			echo magic >file &&
+			git add file &&
+			git commit -m foo &&
+			echo magic >.git/file
+		) &&
+
+		cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+		file
+		repo/file
+		EOF
+		git grep -l --no-index magic >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'setup double-dash tests' '
 cat >double-dash <<EOF &&
 --