diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kbuild b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kbuild
index 60586fb8275e..f6957e7ad807 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kbuild
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kbuild
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ nouveau-y += nouveau_ttm.o
 nouveau-y += nouveau_vmm.o
 
 # DRM - modesetting
-nouveau-$(CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT) += nouveau_backlight.o
+nouveau-y += nouveau_backlight.o
 nouveau-y += nouveau_bios.o
 nouveau-y += nouveau_connector.o
 nouveau-y += nouveau_display.o
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kconfig b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kconfig
index 9436310d0854..2e159b0ea7fb 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/Kconfig
@@ -7,14 +7,13 @@ config DRM_NOUVEAU
 	select DRM_KMS_HELPER
 	select DRM_TTM
 	select DRM_TTM_HELPER
-	select BACKLIGHT_CLASS_DEVICE if DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT
-	select ACPI_VIDEO if ACPI && X86 && BACKLIGHT_CLASS_DEVICE && INPUT
+	select BACKLIGHT_CLASS_DEVICE
+	select ACPI_VIDEO if ACPI && X86 && INPUT
 	select X86_PLATFORM_DEVICES if ACPI && X86
 	select ACPI_WMI if ACPI && X86
 	select MXM_WMI if ACPI && X86
 	select POWER_SUPPLY
 	# Similar to i915, we need to select ACPI_VIDEO and it's dependencies
-	select BACKLIGHT_CLASS_DEVICE if ACPI && X86
 	select INPUT if ACPI && X86
 	select THERMAL if ACPI && X86
 	select ACPI_VIDEO if ACPI && X86
@@ -85,14 +84,6 @@ config NOUVEAU_DEBUG_PUSH
 	  Say Y here if you want to enable verbose push buffer debug output
 	  and sanity checks.
 
-config DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT
-	bool "Support for backlight control"
-	depends on DRM_NOUVEAU
-	default y
-	help
-	  Say Y here if you want to control the backlight of your display
-	  (e.g. a laptop panel).
-
 config DRM_NOUVEAU_SVM
 	bool "(EXPERIMENTAL) Enable SVM (Shared Virtual Memory) support"
 	depends on DEVICE_PRIVATE
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv50/disp.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv50/disp.c
index 093e1f7163b3..b30fd0f4a541 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv50/disp.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/dispnv50/disp.c
@@ -1712,9 +1712,7 @@ nv50_sor_atomic_enable(struct drm_encoder *encoder, struct drm_atomic_state *sta
 	struct drm_device *dev = encoder->dev;
 	struct nouveau_drm *drm = nouveau_drm(dev);
 	struct nouveau_connector *nv_connector;
-#ifdef CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT
 	struct nouveau_backlight *backlight;
-#endif
 	struct nvbios *bios = &drm->vbios;
 	bool hda = false;
 	u8 proto = NV507D_SOR_SET_CONTROL_PROTOCOL_CUSTOM;
@@ -1790,12 +1788,10 @@ nv50_sor_atomic_enable(struct drm_encoder *encoder, struct drm_atomic_state *sta
 
 		nv50_audio_enable(encoder, nv_crtc, nv_connector, state, mode);
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT
 		backlight = nv_connector->backlight;
 		if (backlight && backlight->uses_dpcd)
 			drm_edp_backlight_enable(&nv_connector->aux, &backlight->edp_info,
 						 (u16)backlight->dev->props.brightness);
-#endif
 
 		break;
 	default:
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_connector.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_connector.h
index 40f90e353540..88ed64efe9e9 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_connector.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_connector.h
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@
 struct nvkm_i2c_port;
 struct dcb_output;
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT
 struct nouveau_backlight {
 	struct backlight_device *dev;
 
@@ -54,7 +53,6 @@ struct nouveau_backlight {
 
 	int id;
 };
-#endif
 
 #define nouveau_conn_atom(p)                                                   \
 	container_of((p), struct nouveau_conn_atom, state)
@@ -133,9 +131,7 @@ struct nouveau_connector {
 	struct nouveau_encoder *detected_encoder;
 	struct edid *edid;
 	struct drm_display_mode *native_mode;
-#ifdef CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT
 	struct nouveau_backlight *backlight;
-#endif
 	/*
 	 * Our connector property code expects a nouveau_conn_atom struct
 	 * even on pre-nv50 where we do not support atomic. This embedded
@@ -220,29 +216,9 @@ nouveau_conn_mode_clock_valid(const struct drm_display_mode *,
 			      const unsigned max_clock,
 			      unsigned *clock);
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT
 extern int nouveau_backlight_init(struct drm_connector *);
 extern void nouveau_backlight_fini(struct drm_connector *);
 extern void nouveau_backlight_ctor(void);
 extern void nouveau_backlight_dtor(void);
-#else
-static inline int
-nouveau_backlight_init(struct drm_connector *connector)
-{
-	return 0;
-}
-
-static inline void
-nouveau_backlight_fini(struct drm_connector *connector) {
-}
-
-static inline void
-nouveau_backlight_ctor(void) {
-}
-
-static inline void
-nouveau_backlight_dtor(void) {
-}
-#endif
 
 #endif /* __NOUVEAU_CONNECTOR_H__ */
