diff --git a/lib/internal/streams/pipeline.js b/lib/internal/streams/pipeline.js
index ad3f0796875aae..4359c9a5d47c2f 100644
--- a/lib/internal/streams/pipeline.js
+++ b/lib/internal/streams/pipeline.js
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ const {
 const { eos } = require('internal/streams/end-of-stream');
 const { once } = require('internal/util');
 const destroyImpl = require('internal/streams/destroy');
-const Duplex = require('internal/streams/duplex');
 const {
   AbortError,
   aggregateTwoErrors,
@@ -36,6 +35,8 @@ const {
   isIterable,
   isReadable,
   isReadableNodeStream,
+  isWritableNodeStream,
+  isWritableStream,
   isNodeStream,
   isTransformStream,
   isWebStream,
@@ -159,7 +160,8 @@ async function pumpToWeb(readable, writable, finish, { end }) {
   try {
     for await (const chunk of readable) {
       await writer.ready;
-      writer.write(chunk).catch(() => {});
+      writer.write(chunk).catch(() => {
+      });
     }
 
     await writer.ready;
@@ -179,6 +181,68 @@ async function pumpToWeb(readable, writable, finish, { end }) {
   }
 }
 
+function isValidPipelineSource(stream) {
+  return (
+    isIterable(stream) ||
+    isReadableNodeStream(stream) ||
+    isReadableStream(stream) ||
+    isTransformStream(stream)
+  );
+}
+
+function isValidPipelineTransform(stream) {
+  return (
+    isTransformStream(stream) ||
+    (isNodeStream(stream) &&
+      isReadableNodeStream(stream) &&
+      isWritableNodeStream(stream))
+  );
+}
+
+function isValidPipelineDestination(stream) {
+  return (
+    isWritableNodeStream(stream) ||
+    isWritableStream(stream) ||
+    isTransformStream(stream)
+  );
+}
+
+function validatePipelineStream(stream, i, len) {
+  if (typeof stream === 'function') {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (i === 0) {
+    if (!isValidPipelineSource(stream)) {
+      throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(
+        'source',
+        ['Readable', 'Iterable', 'AsyncIterable', 'ReadableStream', 'TransformStream'],
+        stream,
+      );
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (i === len - 1) {
+    if (!isValidPipelineDestination(stream)) {
+      throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(
+        'destination',
+        ['Writable', 'WritableStream', 'TransformStream'],
+        stream,
+      );
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (!isValidPipelineTransform(stream)) {
+    throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(
+      `transform[${i - 1}]`,
+      ['Duplex', 'Transform', 'TransformStream'],
+      stream,
+    );
+  }
+}
+
 function pipeline(...streams) {
   return pipelineImpl(streams, once(popCallback(streams)));
 }
@@ -192,6 +256,10 @@ function pipelineImpl(streams, callback, opts) {
     throw new ERR_MISSING_ARGS('streams');
   }
 
+  for (let i = 0; i < streams.length; i++) {
+    validatePipelineStream(streams[i], i, streams.length);
+  }
+
   const ac = new AbortController();
   const signal = ac.signal;
   const outerSignal = opts?.signal;
@@ -298,10 +366,8 @@ function pipelineImpl(streams, callback, opts) {
           throw new ERR_INVALID_RETURN_VALUE(
             'Iterable, AsyncIterable or Stream', 'source', ret);
         }
-      } else if (isIterable(stream) || isReadableNodeStream(stream) || isTransformStream(stream)) {
-        ret = stream;
       } else {
-        ret = Duplex.from(stream);
+        ret = stream;
       }
     } else if (typeof stream === 'function') {
       if (isTransformStream(ret)) {
@@ -402,8 +468,6 @@ function pipelineImpl(streams, callback, opts) {
           'val', ['Readable', 'Iterable', 'AsyncIterable', 'ReadableStream', 'TransformStream'], ret);
       }
       ret = stream;
-    } else {
-      ret = Duplex.from(stream);
     }
   }