diff --git a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
index 81b4e6b91d8a2..8c48df7ac8be8 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
@@ -491,7 +491,10 @@ setMethod("cache",
 #'
 #' Persist this DataFrame with the specified storage level. For details of the
 #' supported storage levels, refer to
-#' \url{http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/programming-guide.html#rdd-persistence}.
+#' \url{http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/programming-guide.html#rdd-persistence}. \cr
+#' The following four storage level constants are deprecated in 2.0,
+#' since the records will always be serialized in R: \cr
+#' MEMORY_ONLY_SER, MEMORY_ONLY_SER_2, MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER, MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER_2
 #'
 #' @param x The DataFrame to persist
 #'
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/RDD.R b/R/pkg/R/RDD.R
index 00c40c38cabc9..2a4b05a9834db 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/RDD.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/RDD.R
@@ -225,7 +225,10 @@ setMethod("cache",
 #'
 #' Persist this RDD with the specified storage level. For details of the
 #' supported storage levels, refer to
-#' http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/programming-guide.html#rdd-persistence.
+#' http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/programming-guide.html#rdd-persistence. \cr
+#' The following four storage level constants are deprecated in 2.0,
+#' since the records will always be serialized in R: \cr
+#' MEMORY_ONLY_SER, MEMORY_ONLY_SER_2, MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER, MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER_2
 #'
 #' @param x The RDD to persist
 #' @param newLevel The new storage level to be assigned
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/utils.R b/R/pkg/R/utils.R
index 43105aaa38424..4aa1978d892f1 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/utils.R
@@ -339,14 +339,15 @@ getStorageLevel <- function(newLevel = c("DISK_ONLY",
   storageLevel <- switch(newLevel,
                          "DISK_ONLY" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "DISK_ONLY"),
                          "DISK_ONLY_2" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "DISK_ONLY_2"),
-                         "MEMORY_AND_DISK" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_AND_DISK"),
-                         "MEMORY_AND_DISK_2" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_AND_DISK_2"),
+                         "MEMORY_AND_DISK" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER"),
+                         "MEMORY_AND_DISK_2" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass,
+                                                           "MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER_2"),
                          "MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass,
                                                              "MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER"),
                          "MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER_2" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass,
                                                                "MEMORY_AND_DISK_SER_2"),
-                         "MEMORY_ONLY" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_ONLY"),
-                         "MEMORY_ONLY_2" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_ONLY_2"),
+                         "MEMORY_ONLY" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_ONLY_SER"),
+                         "MEMORY_ONLY_2" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_ONLY_SER_2"),
                          "MEMORY_ONLY_SER" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_ONLY_SER"),
                          "MEMORY_ONLY_SER_2" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "MEMORY_ONLY_SER_2"),
                          "OFF_HEAP" = callJStatic(storageLevelClass, "OFF_HEAP"))