diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java
index cf5c7c4069..0367423675 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.xml.DomUtils;
  * Parser for the <poller> element.
  * 
  * @author Mark Fisher
+ * @author Marius Bogoevici
  */
 public class PollerParser extends AbstractBeanDefinitionParser {
 
@@ -91,18 +92,31 @@ public class PollerParser extends AbstractBeanDefinitionParser {
 
 	private void configureTrigger(Element pollerElement, BeanDefinitionBuilder targetBuilder, ParserContext parserContext) {
 		String triggerBeanName = null;
+        if (pollerElement.hasAttribute("trigger")) {
+            triggerBeanName = pollerElement.getAttribute("trigger");
+        }
 		Element intervalElement = DomUtils.getChildElementByTagName(pollerElement, "interval-trigger");
 		if (intervalElement != null) {
+            if (triggerBeanName != null) {
+                parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
+                        "A <poller> element with the 'trigger' attribute cannot have <interval-trigger/> or <cron-trigger/> child elements. ", pollerElement);
+            }
 			triggerBeanName = parseIntervalTrigger(intervalElement, parserContext);
 		}
 		else {
 			Element cronElement = DomUtils.getChildElementByTagName(pollerElement, "cron-trigger");
-			if (cronElement == null) {
-				parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
-						"A <poller> element must include either an <interval-trigger/> or <cron-trigger/> child element.", pollerElement);
-			}
-			triggerBeanName = parseCronTrigger(cronElement, parserContext);
+            if (cronElement != null) {
+                if (triggerBeanName != null) {
+                    parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
+                            "A <poller> element with the 'trigger' attribute cannot have <interval-trigger/> or <cron-trigger/> child elements. ", pollerElement);
+                }
+                triggerBeanName = parseCronTrigger(cronElement, parserContext);
+            }
 		}
+        if (triggerBeanName == null) {
+            parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
+                    "A <poller> element must include a trigger definition, either as a 'trigger' attribute, or as an <interval-trigger/> or <cron-trigger/> child element.", pollerElement);              
+        }
 		targetBuilder.addPropertyReference("trigger", triggerBeanName);
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd b/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd
index e30d5e945b..7e5c6a6b73 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd
@@ -1099,6 +1099,15 @@
 				</xsd:complexType>
 			</xsd:element>
 		</xsd:sequence>
+        <xsd:attribute name="trigger" type="xsd:string">
+            <xsd:annotation>
+				<xsd:appinfo>
+					<tool:annotation kind="ref">
+						<tool:expected-type type="org.springframework.scheduling.Trigger" />
+					</tool:annotation>
+				</xsd:appinfo>
+			</xsd:annotation>
+        </xsd:attribute>
 		<xsd:attribute name="receive-timeout" type="xsd:string" />
 		<xsd:attribute name="send-timeout" type="xsd:string" />
 		<xsd:attribute name="max-messages-per-poll" type="xsd:string" />
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/TestTrigger.java b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/TestTrigger.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e656f78ccb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/TestTrigger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package org.springframework.integration.config;
+
+import org.springframework.scheduling.Trigger;
+import org.springframework.scheduling.TriggerContext;
+
+import java.util.Date;
+
+/**
+ * @author Marius Bogoevici
+ */
+public class TestTrigger implements Trigger {
+
+    public Date nextExecutionTime(TriggerContext triggerContext) {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java
index 5bc6bf257d..46f44a4f37 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@ package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.parsing.BeanDefinitionParsingException;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.integration.config.TestTrigger;
 import org.springframework.integration.context.IntegrationContextUtils;
 import org.springframework.integration.scheduling.PollerMetadata;
 
@@ -88,4 +90,14 @@ public class PollerParserTests {
 		assertEquals(1234, metadata.getReceiveTimeout());
 	}
 
+    @Test
+	public void pollerWithTriggerReference() {
+		ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
+				"pollerWithTriggerReference.xml", PollerParserTests.class);
+		Object poller = context.getBean("poller");
+		assertNotNull(poller);
+		PollerMetadata metadata = (PollerMetadata) poller;
+		assertTrue(metadata.getTrigger() instanceof TestTrigger);
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/pollerWithTriggerReference.xml b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/pollerWithTriggerReference.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..55dcc5008b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/pollerWithTriggerReference.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration.xsd">
+
+	<poller id="poller" receive-timeout="1234" default="true" trigger="trigger"/>
+
+    <beans:bean id="trigger" class="org.springframework.integration.config.TestTrigger"/>
+
+</beans:beans>