diff --git a/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py b/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py
index 9eb8dece83..bda4f8f596 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py
@@ -172,15 +172,25 @@ class DatabaseOperations(BaseDatabaseOperations):
             return []
 
     def value_to_db_datetime(self, value):
-        # MySQL doesn't support microseconds
         if value is None:
             return None
+        
+        # MySQL doesn't support tz-aware datetimes
+        if value.tzinfo is not None:
+            raise ValueError("MySQL backend does not support timezone-aware datetimes.")
+
+        # MySQL doesn't support microseconds
         return unicode(value.replace(microsecond=0))
 
     def value_to_db_time(self, value):
-        # MySQL doesn't support microseconds
         if value is None:
             return None
+            
+        # MySQL doesn't support tz-aware datetimes
+        if value.tzinfo is not None:
+            raise ValueError("MySQL backend does not support timezone-aware datetimes.")
+        
+        # MySQL doesn't support microseconds
         return unicode(value.replace(microsecond=0))
 
     def year_lookup_bounds(self, value):
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py
index 9ebb6402e2..7e76d6a669 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/datatypes/models.py
@@ -83,3 +83,16 @@ datetime.datetime(2007, 4, 20, 16, 19, 59)
 []
 
 """}
+
+# Regression test for #8354: the MySQL backend should raise an error if given
+# a timezone-aware datetime object.
+if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == 'mysql':
+    __test__['API_TESTS'] += """
+>>> from django.utils import tzinfo 
+>>> dt = datetime.datetime(2008, 8, 31, 16, 20, tzinfo=tzinfo.FixedOffset(0)) 
+>>> d = Donut(name='Bear claw', consumed_at=dt) 
+>>> d.save()
+Traceback (most recent call last):
+    ....
+ValueError: MySQL backend does not support timezone-aware datetimes.
+"""