diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 44f63a35730..d9f1e06b20b 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #8443: autodoc: autoattribute directive can't create document for PEP-526
   based uninitalized variables
 * #8419: html search: Do not load ``language_data.js`` in non-search pages
+* #8454: graphviz: The layout option for graph and digraph directives don't work
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/sphinx/ext/graphviz.py b/sphinx/ext/graphviz.py
index 62375f95bc2..dc1cbb68656 100644
--- a/sphinx/ext/graphviz.py
+++ b/sphinx/ext/graphviz.py
@@ -182,7 +182,8 @@ class GraphvizSimple(SphinxDirective):
         'alt': directives.unchanged,
         'align': align_spec,
         'caption': directives.unchanged,
-        'graphviz_dot': directives.unchanged,
+        'layout': directives.unchanged,
+        'graphviz_dot': directives.unchanged,  # an old alias of `layout` option
         'name': directives.unchanged,
         'class': directives.class_option,
     }
@@ -194,6 +195,8 @@ def run(self) -> List[Node]:
         node['options'] = {'docname': self.env.docname}
         if 'graphviz_dot' in self.options:
             node['options']['graphviz_dot'] = self.options['graphviz_dot']
+        if 'layout' in self.options:
+            node['options']['graphviz_dot'] = self.options['layout']
         if 'alt' in self.options:
             node['alt'] = self.options['alt']
         if 'align' in self.options: