diff --git a/scrapy/extensions/closespider.py b/scrapy/extensions/closespider.py
index a5df5e8a7..9ccf356ec 100644
--- a/scrapy/extensions/closespider.py
+++ b/scrapy/extensions/closespider.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from collections import defaultdict
 from twisted.internet import reactor
 
 from scrapy import signals
+from scrapy.exceptions import NotConfigured
 
 
 class CloseSpider(object):
@@ -23,6 +24,9 @@ class CloseSpider(object):
             'errorcount': crawler.settings.getint('CLOSESPIDER_ERRORCOUNT'),
             }
 
+        if not any(self.close_on.values()):
+            raise NotConfigured
+
         self.counter = defaultdict(int)
 
         if self.close_on.get('errorcount'):