diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/text_helper.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/text_helper.rb
index 654f3c89f3..c7f96597b9 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/text_helper.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/text_helper.rb
@@ -112,13 +112,13 @@ module ActionView
         end
         options.reverse_merge!(:highlighter => '<strong class="highlight">\1</strong>')
 
-        text = h(text) unless text.html_safe? || options[:safe]
+        text = sanitize(text) unless options[:sanitize] == false
         if text.blank? || phrases.blank?
           text
         else
           match = Array(phrases).map { |p| Regexp.escape(p) }.join('|')
           text.gsub(/(#{match})(?!(?:[^<]*?)(?:["'])[^<>]*>)/i, options[:highlighter])
-        end
+        end.html_safe
       end
 
       # Extracts an excerpt from +text+ that matches the first instance of +phrase+.
@@ -248,9 +248,9 @@ module ActionView
       #   simple_format("Look ma! A class!", :class => 'description')
       #   # => "<p class='description'>Look ma! A class!</p>"
       def simple_format(text, html_options={}, options={})
-        text = '' if text.nil?
+        text = ''.html_safe if text.nil?
         start_tag = tag('p', html_options, true)
-        text = h(text) unless text.html_safe? || options[:safe]
+        text = sanitize(text) unless options[:sanitize] == false
         text.gsub!(/\r\n?/, "\n")                    # \r\n and \r -> \n
         text.gsub!(/\n\n+/, "</p>\n\n#{start_tag}")  # 2+ newline  -> paragraph
         text.gsub!(/([^\n]\n)(?=[^\n])/, '\1<br />') # 1 newline   -> br
@@ -494,7 +494,11 @@ module ActionView
               link_text = block_given?? yield(href) : href
               href = 'http://' + href unless scheme
 
-              content_tag(:a, link_text, link_attributes.merge('href' => href), !(options[:safe] || text.html_safe?)) + punctuation.reverse.join('')
+              unless options[:sanitize] == false
+                link_text = sanitize(link_text)
+                href      = sanitize(href)
+              end
+              content_tag(:a, link_text, link_attributes.merge('href' => href), !!options[:sanitize]) + punctuation.reverse.join('')
             end
           end.html_safe
         end
@@ -509,7 +513,11 @@ module ActionView
               text.html_safe
             else
               display_text = (block_given?) ? yield(text) : text
-              display_text = h(display_text) unless options[:safe]
+
+              unless options[:sanitize] == false
+                text         = sanitize(text)
+                display_text = sanitize(display_text) unless text == display_text
+              end
               mail_to text, display_text, html_options
             end
           end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/text_helper_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/text_helper_test.rb
index 82c81ddf05..d173c5be0a 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/text_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/text_helper_test.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ class TextHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
     assert_equal 'foobar', output_buffer
   end
 
+  def test_simple_format_should_be_html_safe
+    assert simple_format("<b> test with html tags </b>").html_safe?
+  end
+
   def test_simple_format
     assert_equal "<p></p>", simple_format(nil)
 
@@ -36,26 +40,18 @@ class TextHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
      assert_equal %Q(<p class="test">para 1</p>\n\n<p class="test">para 2</p>), simple_format("para 1\n\npara 2", :class => 'test')
   end
 
-  def test_simple_format_should_be_html_safe
-    assert simple_format("<b> test with html tags </b>").html_safe?
+  def test_simple_format_should_sanitize_input_when_sanitize_option_is_not_false
+    assert_equal "<p><b> test with unsafe string </b></p>", simple_format("<b> test with unsafe string </b><script>code!</script>")
   end
 
-  def test_simple_format_should_escape_unsafe_input
-    assert_equal "<p>&lt;b&gt; test with unsafe string &lt;/b&gt;&lt;script&gt;code!&lt;/script&gt;</p>", simple_format("<b> test with unsafe string </b><script>code!</script>")
-  end
-
-  def test_simple_format_should_not_escape_input_if_safe_option
-    assert_equal "<p><b> test with unsafe string </b><script>code!</script></p>", simple_format("<b> test with unsafe string </b><script>code!</script>", {}, :safe => true)
-  end
-
-  def test_simple_format_should_not_escape_safe_input
-    assert_equal "<p><b> test with safe string </b></p>", simple_format("<b> test with safe string </b>".html_safe)
+  def test_simple_format_should_not_sanitize_input_when_sanitize_option_is_false
+    assert_equal "<p><b> test with unsafe string </b><script>code!</script></p>", simple_format("<b> test with unsafe string </b><script>code!</script>", {}, :sanitize => false)
   end
 
   def test_truncate_should_not_be_html_safe
     assert !truncate("Hello World!", :length => 12).html_safe?
   end
-  
+
   def test_truncate
     assert_equal "Hello World!", truncate("Hello World!", :length => 12)
     assert_equal "Hello Wor...", truncate("Hello World!!", :length => 12)
@@ -128,24 +124,17 @@ class TextHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
     assert_equal '   ', highlight('   ', 'blank text is returned verbatim')
   end
 
-  def test_highlight_should_escape_unsafe_input
+  def test_highlight_should_sanitize_input
     assert_equal(
-      "This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning&lt;script&gt;code!&lt;/script&gt;",
+      "This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning",
       highlight("This is a beautiful morning<script>code!</script>", "beautiful")
     )
   end
 
-  def test_highlight_should_not_escape_input_if_safe_option
+  def test_highlight_should_not_sanitize_if_sanitize_option_if_false
     assert_equal(
       "This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning<script>code!</script>",
-      highlight("This is a beautiful morning<script>code!</script>", "beautiful", :safe => true)
-    )
-  end
-
-  def test_highlight_should_not_escape_safe_input
-    assert_equal(
-      "This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning<script>code!</script>",
-      highlight("This is a beautiful morning<script>code!</script>".html_safe, "beautiful")
+      highlight("This is a beautiful morning<script>code!</script>", "beautiful", :sanitize => false)
     )
   end
 
@@ -179,23 +168,23 @@ class TextHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
 
   def test_highlight_with_html
     assert_equal(
-      "&lt;p&gt;This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day&lt;/p&gt;",
+      "<p>This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day</p>",
       highlight("<p>This is a beautiful morning, but also a beautiful day</p>", "beautiful")
     )
     assert_equal(
-      "&lt;p&gt;This is a &lt;em&gt;<strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong>&lt;/em&gt; morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day&lt;/p&gt;",
+      "<p>This is a <em><strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong></em> morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day</p>",
       highlight("<p>This is a <em>beautiful</em> morning, but also a beautiful day</p>", "beautiful")
     )
     assert_equal(
-      "&lt;p&gt;This is a &lt;em class=&quot;error&quot;&gt;<strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong>&lt;/em&gt; morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> &lt;span class=&quot;last&quot;&gt;day&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;",
+      "<p>This is a <em class=\"error\"><strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong></em> morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> <span class=\"last\">day</span></p>",
       highlight("<p>This is a <em class=\"error\">beautiful</em> morning, but also a beautiful <span class=\"last\">day</span></p>", "beautiful")
     )
     assert_equal(
-      "&lt;p class=&quot;<strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong>&quot;&gt;This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day&lt;/p&gt;",
+      "<p class=\"beautiful\">This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> morning, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day</p>",
       highlight("<p class=\"beautiful\">This is a beautiful morning, but also a beautiful day</p>", "beautiful")
     )
     assert_equal(
-      "&lt;p&gt;This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> &lt;a href=&quot;http://example.com/<strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong>#top?what=<strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong>%20morning&amp;when=now+then&quot;&gt;morning&lt;/a&gt;, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day&lt;/p&gt;",
+      "<p>This is a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> <a href=\"http://example.com/beautiful#top?what=beautiful%20morning&amp;when=now+then\">morning</a>, but also a <strong class=\"highlight\">beautiful</strong> day</p>",
       highlight("<p>This is a beautiful <a href=\"http://example.com/beautiful\#top?what=beautiful%20morning&when=now+then\">morning</a>, but also a beautiful day</p>", "beautiful")
     )
   end
@@ -317,9 +306,13 @@ class TextHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
     end
   end
 
-  def generate_result(link_text, href = nil)
+  def generate_result(link_text, href = nil, escape = false)
     href ||= link_text
-    %{<a href="#{CGI::escapeHTML href}">#{CGI::escapeHTML link_text}</a>}
+    if escape
+      %{<a href="#{CGI::escapeHTML href}">#{CGI::escapeHTML link_text}</a>}
+    else
+      %{<a href="#{href}">#{link_text}</a>}
+    end
   end
 
   def test_auto_link_should_be_html_safe
@@ -424,19 +417,14 @@ class TextHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
     assert_equal %(<p>#{link10_result} Link</p>), auto_link("<p>#{link10_raw} Link</p>")
   end
 
-  def test_auto_link_should_sanitize_unsafe_input
+  def test_auto_link_should_sanitize_input_when_sanitize_option_is_not_false
     link_raw     = %{http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2}
-    assert_equal %{<a href="http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&amp;num=2">http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&amp;num=2</a>}, auto_link(link_raw)
+    assert_equal %{<a href="http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2">http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2</a>}, auto_link(link_raw)
   end
 
-  def test_auto_link_should_sanitize_unsafe_input
+  def test_auto_link_should_not_sanitize_input_when_sanitize_option_is_false
     link_raw     = %{http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2}
-    assert_equal %{<a href="http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2">http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2</a>}, auto_link(link_raw, :safe => true)
-  end
-
-  def test_auto_link_should_not_sanitize_safe_input
-    link_raw     = %{http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2}
-    assert_equal %{<a href="http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2">http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2</a>}, auto_link(link_raw.html_safe)
+    assert_equal %{<a href="http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2">http://www.rubyonrails.com?id=1&num=2</a>}, auto_link(link_raw, :sanitize => false)
   end
 
   def test_auto_link_other_protocols