diff --git a/lib/Carton/CLI.pm b/lib/Carton/CLI.pm
index ffb86b1..058cc28 100644
--- a/lib/Carton/CLI.pm
+++ b/lib/Carton/CLI.pm
@@ -343,7 +343,8 @@ sub cmd_update {
         my $dist = $env->snapshot->find_or_core($module)
             or $self->error("Could not find module $module.\n");
         next if $dist->is_core;
-        push @modules, "$module~" . $env->cpanfile->requirements_for_module($module);
+        my $reqs = $env->cpanfile->requirements_for_module($module);
+        push @modules, $reqs ? "$module~" . $reqs : $module;
     }
 
     return unless @modules;
diff --git a/xt/cli/update.t b/xt/cli/update.t
index 22745bd..ef307a8 100644
--- a/xt/cli/update.t
+++ b/xt/cli/update.t
@@ -74,5 +74,21 @@ EOF
     }
 };
 
+subtest 'update dependency distribution' => sub {
+    my $app = cli();
+
+    $app->write_cpanfile(<<EOF);
+requires 'HTML::Parser';
+EOF
+
+    $app->run("install");
+    $app->run("list");
+    like $app->stdout, qr/HTML-Parser-/m;
+    like $app->stdout, qr/HTML-Tagset-/m;
+
+    $app->run("update", "HTML::Tagset");
+    like $app->stdout, qr/HTML::Tagset is up to date/m;
+};
+
 done_testing;