diff --git a/framework/CHANGELOG.md b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
index 9f49b12..3a24dbc 100644
--- a/framework/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ Yii Framework 2 Change Log
 - Bug #18557: Fix `yii\data\ActiveDataProvider` to handle DB connection configuration of different type than just `yii\db\Connection` (bizley)
 - Bug #18526: Fix `yii\caching\DbCache` to work with MSSQL, add `normalizeTableRowData()` to `yii\db\mssql\QueryBuilder::upsert()` (darkdef)
 - Bug #14343: Fix `yii\test\ActiveFixture` to use model's DB connection instead of the default one (margori, bizley)
+- Bug #17631: Fix `yii\widgets\BaseListView` to properly render custom summary (sjaakp, bizley)
 
 
 2.0.41.1 March 04, 2021
diff --git a/framework/widgets/BaseListView.php b/framework/widgets/BaseListView.php
index 88686e8..3b6eddb 100644
--- a/framework/widgets/BaseListView.php
+++ b/framework/widgets/BaseListView.php
@@ -227,14 +227,18 @@ abstract class BaseListView extends Widget
             }
         }
 
-        return Yii::$app->getI18n()->format($summaryContent, [
+        if ($summaryContent === '') {
+            return '';
+        }
+
+        return Html::tag($tag, Yii::$app->getI18n()->format($summaryContent, [
             'begin' => $begin,
             'end' => $end,
             'count' => $count,
             'totalCount' => $totalCount,
             'page' => $page,
             'pageCount' => $pageCount,
-        ], Yii::$app->language);
+        ], Yii::$app->language), $summaryOptions);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/framework/widgets/ListViewTest.php b/tests/framework/widgets/ListViewTest.php
index beb5268..c6545a3 100644
--- a/tests/framework/widgets/ListViewTest.php
+++ b/tests/framework/widgets/ListViewTest.php
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 namespace yiiunit\framework\widgets;
 
+use yii\web\Request;
 use yii\data\ArrayDataProvider;
 use yii\data\DataProviderInterface;
 use yii\widgets\ListView;
@@ -79,15 +80,15 @@ HTML
     /**
      * @return DataProviderInterface
      */
-    private function getDataProvider()
+    private function getDataProvider($additionalConfig = [])
     {
-        return new ArrayDataProvider([
+        return new ArrayDataProvider(array_merge([
             'allModels' => [
                 ['id' => 1, 'login' => 'silverfire'],
                 ['id' => 2, 'login' => 'samdark'],
                 ['id' => 3, 'login' => 'cebe'],
             ],
-        ]);
+        ], $additionalConfig));
     }
 
     public function testSimplyListView()
@@ -263,4 +264,106 @@ HTML
         ]);
         $this->assertTrue($initTriggered);
     }
+
+    public function testNoDataProvider()
+    {
+        $this->expectException('yii\base\InvalidConfigException');
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage('The "dataProvider" property must be set.');
+        (new ListView())->run();
+    }
+
+    public function providerForNoSorter()
+    {
+        return [
+            'no sort attributes' => [[]],
+            'sorter false' => [['dataProvider' => $this->getDataProvider(['sort' => false])]],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider providerForNoSorter
+     */
+    public function testRenderNoSorter($additionalConfig)
+    {
+        $config = array_merge(['layout' => '{sorter}'], $additionalConfig);
+
+        ob_start();
+        $this->getListView($config)->run();
+        $out = ob_get_clean();
+
+        $this->assertEqualsWithoutLE('<div id="w0" class="list-view"></div>', $out);
+    }
+
+    public function testRenderSorterOnlyWithNoItems()
+    {
+        // by default sorter is skipped when there are no items during run()
+        $out = (new ListView([
+            'id' => 'w0',
+            'dataProvider' => $this->getDataProvider(['allModels' => [], 'sort' => ['attributes' => ['id']]]),
+        ]))->renderSorter();
+
+        $this->assertEquals('', $out);
+    }
+
+    public function testRenderSorter()
+    {
+        \Yii::$app->set('request', new Request(['scriptUrl' => '/']));
+
+        ob_start();
+        $this->getListView([
+            'layout' => '{sorter}',
+            'dataProvider' => $this->getDataProvider([
+                'sort' => [
+                    'attributes' => ['id'],
+                    'route' => 'list/view',
+                ]
+            ])
+        ])->run();
+        $out = ob_get_clean();
+
+        $this->assertEqualsWithoutLE('<div id="w0" class="list-view"><ul class="sorter">
+<li><a href="/?r=list%2Fview&amp;sort=id" data-sort="id">Id</a></li>
+</ul></div>', $out);
+    }
+
+    public function testRenderSummaryWhenPaginationIsFalseAndSummaryIsNull()
+    {
+        ob_start();
+        $this->getListView(['dataProvider' => $this->getDataProvider(['pagination' => false])])->run();
+        $out = ob_get_clean();
+
+        $this->assertEqualsWithoutLE('<div id="w0" class="list-view"><div class="summary">Total <b>3</b> items.</div>
+<div data-key="0">0</div>
+<div data-key="1">1</div>
+<div data-key="2">2</div>
+</div>', $out);
+    }
+
+    public function providerForSummary()
+    {
+        return [
+            'empty' => ['', '<div id="w0" class="list-view">
+<div data-key="0">0</div>
+<div data-key="1">1</div>
+<div data-key="2">2</div>
+</div>'],
+            'all tokens' => ['{begin}-{end}-{count}-{totalCount}-{page}-{pageCount}', '<div id="w0" class="list-view"><div class="summary">1-3-3-3-1-1</div>
+<div data-key="0">0</div>
+<div data-key="1">1</div>
+<div data-key="2">2</div>
+</div>'],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider providerForSummary
+     */
+    public function testRenderSummaryWhenSummaryIsCustom($summary, $result)
+    {
+        ob_start();
+        $this->getListView(['summary' => $summary])->run();
+        $out = ob_get_clean();
+
+        $this->assertEqualsWithoutLE($result, $out);
+    }
 }