diff --git a/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py b/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
index caad9b24b0ea..7358c8205828 100644
--- a/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
+++ b/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
@@ -690,6 +690,8 @@ def _data_from_pandas(
                 feature_name = list(data.columns)
             if categorical_feature == 'auto':  # use cat cols from DataFrame
                 categorical_feature = cat_cols_not_ordered
+            else:  # use cat cols specified by user
+                categorical_feature = list(categorical_feature)
         if feature_name == 'auto':
             feature_name = list(data.columns)
         _check_for_bad_pandas_dtypes(data.dtypes)