diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/tests.py b/python/pyspark/sql/tests.py
index 000dab99ea730..074eae5cb2b16 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/tests.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/tests.py
@@ -445,7 +445,6 @@ def test_between_function(self):
         self.assertEqual([False, True, True],
                      df.select(df.a.between(df.b, df.c)).collect())
 
-
     def test_save_and_load(self):
         df = self.df
         tmpPath = tempfile.mkdtemp()
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Column.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Column.scala
index 590c9c2db97a9..c0503bf047052 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Column.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/Column.scala
@@ -300,16 +300,7 @@ class Column(protected[sql] val expr: Expression) extends Logging {
    *
    * @group java_expr_ops
    */
-  def between(lowerBound: String, upperBound: String): Column = {
-    between(Column(lowerBound), Column(upperBound))
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * True if the current column is between the lower bound and upper bound, inclusive.
-   *
-   * @group java_expr_ops
-   */
-  def between(lowerBound: Column, upperBound: Column): Column = {
+  def between(lowerBound: Any, upperBound: Any): Column = {
     (this >= lowerBound) && (this <= upperBound)
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala
index dcea32f97c840..3c1ad656fc855 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/ColumnExpressionSuite.scala
@@ -211,15 +211,15 @@ class ColumnExpressionSuite extends QueryTest {
   test("between") {
     val testData = TestSQLContext.sparkContext.parallelize(
       (0, 1, 2) ::
-        (1, 2, 3) ::
-        (2, 1, 0) ::
-        (2, 2, 4) ::
-        (3, 1, 6) ::
-        (3, 2, 0) :: Nil).toDF("a", "b", "c")
-    testData.registerTempTable("TestData4")
-    checkAnswer(
-      testData.filter($"a".between($"b", $"c")),
-      testData.collect().toSeq.filter(r => r.getInt(0) >= r.getInt(1) && r.getInt(0) <= r.getInt(2)))
+      (1, 2, 3) ::
+      (2, 1, 0) ::
+      (2, 2, 4) ::
+      (3, 1, 6) ::
+      (3, 2, 0) :: Nil).toDF("a", "b", "c")
+    val expectAnswer = testData.collect().toSeq.
+      filter(r => r.getInt(0) >= r.getInt(1) && r.getInt(0) <= r.getInt(2))
+
+    checkAnswer(testData.filter($"a".between($"b", $"c")), expectAnswer)
   }
 
   val booleanData = TestSQLContext.createDataFrame(TestSQLContext.sparkContext.parallelize(