diff --git a/src/spatialdata/dataloader/datasets.py b/src/spatialdata/dataloader/datasets.py
index 271efbb4..9d85c79f 100644
--- a/src/spatialdata/dataloader/datasets.py
+++ b/src/spatialdata/dataloader/datasets.py
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@
 import pandas as pd
 from anndata import AnnData
 from geopandas import GeoDataFrame
+from multiscale_spatial_image import MultiscaleSpatialImage
 from pandas import CategoricalDtype
 from scipy.sparse import issparse
+from spatial_image import SpatialImage
 from torch.utils.data import Dataset
 
 from spatialdata._core.centroids import get_centroids
@@ -267,6 +269,14 @@ def _preprocess(
         assert np.all([i in self.tiles_coords for i in dims_])
         self.dims = list(dims_)
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _ensure_single_scale(data: SpatialImage | MultiscaleSpatialImage) -> SpatialImage:
+        if isinstance(data, SpatialImage):
+            return data
+        if isinstance(data, MultiscaleSpatialImage):
+            return SpatialImage(next(iter(data["scale0"].ds.values())))
+        raise ValueError(f"Expected a SpatialImage or MultiscaleSpatialImage, got {type(data)}.")
+
     def _get_return(
         self,
         return_annot: str | list[str] | None,
@@ -279,11 +289,14 @@ def _get_return(
             return_annot = [return_annot] if isinstance(return_annot, str) else return_annot
             # return tuple of (tile, table)
             if np.all([i in self.dataset_table.obs for i in return_annot]):
-                return lambda x, tile: (tile, self.dataset_table.obs[return_annot].iloc[x].values.reshape(1, -1))
+                return lambda x, tile: (
+                    self._ensure_single_scale(tile),
+                    self.dataset_table.obs[return_annot].iloc[x].values.reshape(1, -1),
+                )
             if np.all([i in self.dataset_table.var_names for i in return_annot]):
                 if issparse(self.dataset_table.X):
-                    return lambda x, tile: (tile, self.dataset_table[x, return_annot].X.A)
-                return lambda x, tile: (tile, self.dataset_table[x, return_annot].X)
+                    return lambda x, tile: (self._ensure_single_scale(tile), self.dataset_table[x, return_annot].X.A)
+                return lambda x, tile: (self._ensure_single_scale(tile), self.dataset_table[x, return_annot].X)
             raise ValueError(
                 f"If `return_annot` is a `str`, it must be a column name in the table or a variable name in the table. "
                 f"If it is a `list` of `str`, each element should be as above, and they should all be entirely in obs "
@@ -292,10 +305,12 @@ def _get_return(
         # return spatialdata consisting of the image tile and, if available, the associated table
         if table_name:
             return lambda x, tile: SpatialData(
-                images={self.dataset_index.iloc[x][self.IMAGE_KEY]: tile},
+                images={self.dataset_index.iloc[x][self.IMAGE_KEY]: self._ensure_single_scale(tile)},
                 table=self.dataset_table[x],
             )
-        return lambda x, tile: SpatialData(images={self.dataset_index.iloc[x][self.IMAGE_KEY]: tile})
+        return lambda x, tile: SpatialData(
+            images={self.dataset_index.iloc[x][self.IMAGE_KEY]: self._ensure_single_scale(tile)}
+        )
 
     def __len__(self) -> int:
         return len(self.dataset_index)
diff --git a/tests/dataloader/test_datasets.py b/tests/dataloader/test_datasets.py
index 40fd1563..cfd16312 100644
--- a/tests/dataloader/test_datasets.py
+++ b/tests/dataloader/test_datasets.py
@@ -132,13 +132,7 @@ def test_multiscale_images(self, sdata_blobs, rasterize: bool, return_annot):
         )
         if return_annot is None:
             sdata_tile = ds[0]
-            if rasterize:
-                # rasterize transforms teh multiscale image into a single scale image
-                tile = sdata_tile["blobs_multiscale_image"]
-            else:
-                tile = next(iter(sdata_tile["blobs_multiscale_image"]["scale0"].ds.values()))
+            tile = sdata_tile["blobs_multiscale_image"]
         else:
             tile, annot = ds[0]
-            if not rasterize:
-                tile = next(iter(tile["scale0"].ds.values()))
         assert tile.shape == (3, 10, 10)