diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h
index b7abcdea10a2a..c4f2cf2413165 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRef.h
@@ -50,8 +50,9 @@ namespace memref {
 
 /// This is a common utility used for patterns of the form
 /// "someop(memref.cast) -> someop". It folds the source of any memref.cast
-/// into the root operation directly.
-LogicalResult foldMemRefCast(Operation *op, Value inner = nullptr);
+/// into the root operation directly. Operands in `ignoredOperands` are excluded
+/// from folding.
+LogicalResult foldMemRefCast(Operation *op, ValueRange ignoredOperands = {});
 
 /// Return an unranked/ranked tensor type for the given unranked/ranked memref
 /// type.
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefOps.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefOps.cpp
index 1035d7cb46e6e..6b82a550668b2 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefOps.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/MemRef/IR/MemRefOps.cpp
@@ -41,12 +41,14 @@ Operation *MemRefDialect::materializeConstant(OpBuilder &builder,
 
 /// This is a common class used for patterns of the form
 /// "someop(memrefcast) -> someop".  It folds the source of any memref.cast
-/// into the root operation directly.
-LogicalResult mlir::memref::foldMemRefCast(Operation *op, Value inner) {
+/// into the root operation directly. Operands in `ignoredOperands` are excluded
+/// from folding.
+LogicalResult mlir::memref::foldMemRefCast(Operation *op,
+                                           ValueRange ignoredOperands) {
   bool folded = false;
   for (OpOperand &operand : op->getOpOperands()) {
     auto cast = operand.get().getDefiningOp<CastOp>();
-    if (cast && operand.get() != inner &&
+    if (cast && !llvm::is_contained(ignoredOperands, operand.get()) &&
         !llvm::isa<UnrankedMemRefType>(cast.getOperand().getType())) {
       operand.set(cast.getOperand());
       folded = true;