diff --git a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-api/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/annotation/Reference.java b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-api/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/annotation/Reference.java
index 3220d9d23ad..b3a93d7b72d 100644
--- a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-api/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/annotation/Reference.java
+++ b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-api/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/annotation/Reference.java
@@ -16,16 +16,12 @@
  */
 package com.alibaba.dubbo.config.annotation;
 
-import com.alibaba.dubbo.common.Constants;
-
 import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
 import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
 import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
 import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
 import java.lang.annotation.Target;
 
-import static com.alibaba.dubbo.common.Constants.DEFAULT_PROTOCOL;
-
 /**
  * Reference
  *
@@ -119,10 +115,9 @@
     /**
      * The communication protocol of Dubbo Service
      *
-     * @return the default value is "dubbo"
-     * @see Constants#DEFAULT_PROTOCOL
+     * @return the default value is ""
      * @since 2.6.6
      */
-    String protocol() default DEFAULT_PROTOCOL;
+    String protocol() default "";
 
 }
diff --git a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/ReferenceBeanBuilder.java b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/ReferenceBeanBuilder.java
index 9b92d214169..27de58bf71e 100644
--- a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/ReferenceBeanBuilder.java
+++ b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/main/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/ReferenceBeanBuilder.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.beans.PropertyEditorSupport;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import static com.alibaba.dubbo.common.Constants.DEFAULT_PROTOCOL;
 import static com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.util.BeanFactoryUtils.getOptionalBean;
 import static com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.util.ObjectUtils.of;
 import static org.springframework.util.StringUtils.commaDelimitedListToStringArray;
@@ -122,6 +123,22 @@ public void setAsText(String text) throws java.lang.IllegalArgumentException {
         // Bind annotation attributes
         dataBinder.bind(new AnnotationPropertyValuesAdapter(reference, applicationContext.getEnvironment(), IGNORE_FIELD_NAMES));
 
+        setProtocolIfAbsent(reference, referenceBean);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * If ReferenceBean.protocol is empty and @Reference.protocol() is the default value,
+     * ReferenceBean.protocol is about to set the default protocol forcibly.
+     *
+     * @param reference     {@link Reference} annotation
+     * @param referenceBean {@link ReferenceBean} Object
+     * @since 2.6.6
+     */
+    private void setProtocolIfAbsent(Reference reference, ReferenceBean referenceBean) {
+        if (!StringUtils.hasText(referenceBean.getProtocol())
+                && DEFAULT_PROTOCOL.equals(reference.protocol())) {
+            referenceBean.setProtocol(DEFAULT_PROTOCOL);
+        }
     }
 
 
diff --git a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/api/HelloService.java b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/api/HelloService.java
index 1feb2bd5223..367ad9e37c8 100644
--- a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/api/HelloService.java
+++ b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/api/HelloService.java
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@
 
 package com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.api;
 
+import javax.ws.rs.GET;
+import javax.ws.rs.Path;
+import javax.ws.rs.QueryParam;
+
+@Path("/hello-service")
 public interface HelloService {
-    String sayHello(String name);
+
+    @GET
+    String sayHello(@QueryParam("name") String name);
 }
diff --git a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/consumer/MultipleProtocolsServiceConsumer.java b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/consumer/MultipleProtocolsServiceConsumer.java
index 2eeb073b49c..5166db8f6f1 100644
--- a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/consumer/MultipleProtocolsServiceConsumer.java
+++ b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/consumer/MultipleProtocolsServiceConsumer.java
@@ -41,11 +41,26 @@ static class ConsumerConfiguration {
         @Reference(version = "${hello.service.version}", protocol = "dubbo")
         private HelloService dubboHelloService;
 
-//        @Reference(version = "${hello.service.version}", protocol = "rest")
-//        private HelloService restHelloService;
+        @Reference(version = "${hello.service.version}", protocol = "rest")
+        private HelloService restHelloService;
+
+//        @Bean
+//        public ReferenceBean<HelloService> restReferenceBean(@Value("${hello.service.version}") String version) {
+//            ReferenceBean<HelloService> referenceBean = new ReferenceBean<HelloService>();
+//            referenceBean.setVersion(version);
+//            referenceBean.setProtocol("rest");
+//            referenceBean.setInterface(HelloService.class);
+//            return referenceBean;
+//        }
 
     }
 
+//    @ImportResource("classpath:/META-INF/spring/dubbo-rest-consumer.xml")
+//    @Configuration
+//    static class ConsumerXMLConfiguration {
+//    }
+
+
     public static void main(String[] args) {
 
         AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext();
@@ -54,7 +69,7 @@ public static void main(String[] args) {
 
         ConsumerConfiguration configuration = context.getBean(ConsumerConfiguration.class);
         System.out.println(configuration.dubboHelloService.sayHello("mercyblitz"));
-//        System.out.println(configuration.restHelloService.sayHello("mercyblitz"));
+        System.out.println(configuration.restHelloService.sayHello("mercyblitz"));
 
         context.close();
     }
diff --git a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/DefaultHelloService.java b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/DefaultHelloService.java
index 60c1dea0201..43a7ced1cfe 100644
--- a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/DefaultHelloService.java
+++ b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/DefaultHelloService.java
@@ -20,17 +20,11 @@
 import com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.api.HelloService;
 import com.alibaba.dubbo.rpc.RpcContext;
 
-import javax.ws.rs.GET;
-import javax.ws.rs.Path;
-import javax.ws.rs.QueryParam;
-
-@Service(version = "${hello.service.version}", protocol = {"dubbo"})
-@Path("/hello-service")
+@Service(version = "${hello.service.version}", protocol = {"dubbo", "rest"})
 public class DefaultHelloService implements HelloService {
 
     @Override
-    @GET
-    public String sayHello(@QueryParam("name") String name) {
+    public String sayHello(String name) {
         return String.format("[%s] Hello , %s", RpcContext.getContext().getUrl(), name);
     }
 }
diff --git a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/MultipleProtocolsServiceProvider.java b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/MultipleProtocolsServiceProvider.java
index 8e3981a499f..e55d70acea2 100644
--- a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/MultipleProtocolsServiceProvider.java
+++ b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/java/com/alibaba/dubbo/config/spring/beans/factory/annotation/multiple/provider/MultipleProtocolsServiceProvider.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
  */
 package com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.beans.factory.annotation.multiple.provider;
 
-import com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.beans.factory.annotation.multiple.EmbeddedZooKeeper;
 import com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.context.annotation.EnableDubbo;
 
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext;
@@ -35,8 +34,8 @@
 public class MultipleProtocolsServiceProvider {
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
-        EmbeddedZooKeeper embeddedZooKeeper = new EmbeddedZooKeeper(2181, false);
-        embeddedZooKeeper.start();
+//        EmbeddedZooKeeper embeddedZooKeeper = new EmbeddedZooKeeper(2181, false);
+//        embeddedZooKeeper.start();
 
         AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext();
         context.register(MultipleProtocolsServiceProvider.class);
@@ -46,6 +45,6 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
         System.in.read();
 
         context.close();
-        embeddedZooKeeper.stop();
+//        embeddedZooKeeper.stop();
     }
 }
diff --git a/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/resources/META-INF/spring/dubbo-rest-consumer.xml b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/resources/META-INF/spring/dubbo-rest-consumer.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c7db5ff57e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dubbo-config/dubbo-config-spring/src/test/resources/META-INF/spring/dubbo-rest-consumer.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  limitations under the License.
+  -->
+<beans xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+       xmlns:dubbo="http://dubbo.apache.org/schema/dubbo"
+       xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+       xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.3.xsd
+        http://dubbo.apache.org/schema/dubbo http://dubbo.apache.org/schema/dubbo/dubbo.xsd">
+
+    <dubbo:application name="dubbo-rest-consumer"/>
+
+    <dubbo:registry address="zookeeper://127.0.0.1:2181"/>
+
+    <dubbo:reference id="restReferenceBean" interface="com.alibaba.dubbo.config.spring.api.HelloService"
+                     version="1.0.0"
+                     protocol="rest"/>
+
+</beans>
\ No newline at end of file