diff --git a/oslo_cache/backends/memcache_pool.py b/oslo_cache/backends/memcache_pool.py
index d789842c..1aee2026 100644
--- a/oslo_cache/backends/memcache_pool.py
+++ b/oslo_cache/backends/memcache_pool.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class PooledMemcachedBackend(memcached_backend.MemcachedBackend):
     # Composed from GenericMemcachedBackend's and MemcacheArgs's __init__
     def __init__(self, arguments: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
         super().__init__(arguments)  # type: ignore
-        if arguments.get('tls_enabled', False) or arguments.get(
+        if arguments.get('tls_context') is not None or arguments.get(
             'sasl_enabled', False
         ):
             if arguments.get('sasl_enabled', False) and (
diff --git a/oslo_cache/core.py b/oslo_cache/core.py
index 2f60385a..dcacba8f 100644
--- a/oslo_cache/core.py
+++ b/oslo_cache/core.py
@@ -312,11 +312,6 @@ def _build_cache_config(conf: cfg.ConfigOpts) -> dict[str, Any]:
                 tls_context.set_ciphers(conf.cache.tls_allowed_ciphers)
 
             conf_dict[f'{prefix}.arguments.tls_context'] = tls_context
-
-            # pass the value of tls_enabled to the backend
-            conf_dict[f'{prefix}.arguments.tls_enabled'] = (
-                conf.cache.tls_enabled
-            )
         elif conf.cache.backend in (
             'dogpile.cache.redis',
             'dogpile.cache.redis_sentinel',