diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
index 8192350baa06..ec28d8dde38e 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/functions.scala
@@ -113,7 +113,17 @@ object functions {
    * @group normal_funcs
    * @since 1.3.0
    */
-  def lit(literal: Any): Column = typedLit(literal)
+  def lit(literal: Any): Column = literal match {
+    case c: Column => c
+    case s: Symbol => new ColumnName(s.name)
+    case _ =>
+      // This is different from `typedlit`. `typedlit` calls `Literal.create` to use
+      // `ScalaReflection` to get the type of `literal`. However, since we use `Any` in this method,
+      // `typedLit[Any](literal)` will always fail and fallback to `Literal.apply`. Hence, we can
+      // just manually call `Literal.apply` to skip the expensive `ScalaReflection` code. This is
+      // significantly better when there are many threads calling `lit` concurrently.
+      Column(Literal(literal))
+  }
 
   /**
    * Creates a [[Column]] of literal value.
@@ -134,6 +144,9 @@ object functions {
    * The difference between this function and [[lit]] is that this function
    * can handle parameterized scala types e.g.: List, Seq and Map.
    *
+   * @note `typedlit` will call expensive Scala reflection APIs. `lit` is preferred if parameterized
+   * Scala types are not used.
+   *
    * @group normal_funcs
    * @since 3.2.0
    */
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 2acc4ff68796..fe56bcb99117 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
@@ -932,7 +932,19 @@ class ColumnExpressionSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSparkSession {
       testData2.collect().toSeq.map(r => Row(r.getInt(0) ^ r.getInt(1) ^ 39)))
   }
 
+  test("SPARK-37646: lit") {
+    assert(lit($"foo") == $"foo")
+    assert(lit('foo) == $"foo")
+    assert(lit(1) == Column(Literal(1)))
+    assert(lit(null) == Column(Literal(null, NullType)))
+  }
+
   test("typedLit") {
+    assert(typedLit($"foo") == $"foo")
+    assert(typedLit('foo) == $"foo")
+    assert(typedLit(1) == Column(Literal(1)))
+    assert(typedLit[String](null) == Column(Literal(null, StringType)))
+
     val df = Seq(Tuple1(0)).toDF("a")
     // Only check the types `lit` cannot handle
     checkAnswer(