diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala
index 691f71a7d4ac..2e8ce4541865 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala
@@ -72,7 +72,12 @@ abstract class SparkStrategies extends QueryPlanner[SparkPlan] {
           execution.TakeOrderedAndProjectExec(
             limit, order, projectList, planLater(child)) :: Nil
         case logical.Limit(IntegerLiteral(limit), child) =>
-          execution.CollectLimitExec(limit, planLater(child)) :: Nil
+          // Normally wrapping child with `LocalLimitExec` here is a no-op, because
+          // `CollectLimitExec.executeCollect` will call `LocalLimitExec.executeTake`, which
+          // calls `child.executeTake`. If child supports whole stage codegen, adding this
+          // `LocalLimitExec` can stop the processing of whole stage codegen and trigger the
+          // resource releasing work, after we consume `limit` rows.
+          execution.CollectLimitExec(limit, LocalLimitExec(limit, planLater(child))) :: Nil
         case other => planLater(other) :: Nil
       }
       case logical.Limit(IntegerLiteral(limit), logical.Sort(order, true, child)) =>
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/limit.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/limit.scala
index 73a0f8735ed4..7cef5569717a 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/limit.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/limit.scala
@@ -54,6 +54,14 @@ trait BaseLimitExec extends UnaryExecNode with CodegenSupport {
   val limit: Int
   override def output: Seq[Attribute] = child.output
 
+  // Do not enable whole stage codegen for a single limit.
+  override def supportCodegen: Boolean = child match {
+    case plan: CodegenSupport => plan.supportCodegen
+    case _ => false
+  }
+
+  override def executeTake(n: Int): Array[InternalRow] = child.executeTake(math.min(n, limit))
+
   protected override def doExecute(): RDD[InternalRow] = child.execute().mapPartitions { iter =>
     iter.take(limit)
   }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
index e95f6dba4607..923c6d8eb71f 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
@@ -2658,4 +2658,9 @@ class SQLQuerySuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
       checkAnswer(sql("SELECT __auto_generated_subquery_name.i from (SELECT i FROM v)"), Row(1))
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-21743: top-most limit should not cause memory leak") {
+    // In unit test, Spark will fail the query if memory leak detected.
+    spark.range(100).groupBy("id").count().limit(1).collect()
+  }
 }