diff --git a/diff/diff.go b/diff/diff.go
index 9e9900f..f61dd68 100644
--- a/diff/diff.go
+++ b/diff/diff.go
@@ -158,13 +158,13 @@ type visited struct {
 }
 
 func (v *visited) add(lhs, rhs reflect.Value) error {
-	if canAddr(lhs) {
+	if canAddr(lhs) && !isEmptyMapOrSlice(lhs) {
 		if inPointers(v.lhs, lhs) {
 			return ErrCyclic
 		}
 		v.lhs = append(v.lhs, lhs.Pointer())
 	}
-	if canAddr(rhs) {
+	if canAddr(rhs) && !isEmptyMapOrSlice(lhs) {
 		if inPointers(v.rhs, rhs) {
 			return ErrCyclic
 		}
@@ -174,6 +174,11 @@ func (v *visited) add(lhs, rhs reflect.Value) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func isEmptyMapOrSlice(v reflect.Value) bool {
+	// we don't want to include empty slices and maps in our cyclic check, since these are not problematic
+	return (v.Kind() == reflect.Slice || v.Kind() == reflect.Map) && v.Len() == 0
+}
+
 func inPointers(pointers []uintptr, val reflect.Value) bool {
 	for _, lhs := range pointers {
 		if lhs == val.Pointer() {
diff --git a/diff/diff_test.go b/diff/diff_test.go
index 65fd54c..e8abbef 100644
--- a/diff/diff_test.go
+++ b/diff/diff_test.go
@@ -555,6 +555,22 @@ func TestCircular(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 	}
+	emptySlice := map[int]interface{}{
+		0: []interface{}{},
+	}
+	emptySlice[1] = emptySlice[0]
+	emptySliceNotRepeating := map[int]interface{}{
+		0: []interface{}{},
+		1: []interface{}{},
+	}
+	emptyMap := map[int]interface{}{
+		0: map[int]interface{}{},
+	}
+	emptyMap[1] = emptyMap[0]
+	emptyMapNotRepeating := map[int]interface{}{
+		0: map[int]interface{}{},
+		1: map[int]interface{}{},
+	}
 
 	for _, test := range []struct {
 		lhs       interface{}
@@ -567,6 +583,10 @@ func TestCircular(t *testing.T) {
 		{lhs: first, rhs: notCyclic, wantError: true},
 		{lhs: notCyclic, rhs: first, wantError: true},
 		{lhs: notCyclic, rhs: notCyclic},
+		{lhs: emptySlice, rhs: emptySliceNotRepeating},
+		{lhs: emptySliceNotRepeating, rhs: emptySlice},
+		{lhs: emptyMap, rhs: emptyMapNotRepeating},
+		{lhs: emptyMapNotRepeating, rhs: emptyMap},
 	} {
 		d, err := Diff(test.lhs, test.rhs)