diff --git a/ibis/backends/trino/__init__.py b/ibis/backends/trino/__init__.py
index e694f042fae1..3331fa4f509d 100644
--- a/ibis/backends/trino/__init__.py
+++ b/ibis/backends/trino/__init__.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import sqlglot as sg
 import sqlglot.expressions as sge
 import trino
+from trino.auth import BasicAuthentication
 
 import ibis
 import ibis.backends.sql.compilers as sc
@@ -309,10 +310,16 @@ def do_connect(
                 raise ValueError(
                     "Cannot specify both `auth` and `password` when connecting to Trino"
                 )
+            else:
+                auth = password
             warnings.warn(
                 "The `password` parameter is deprecated and will be removed in 10.0; use `auth` instead",
                 FutureWarning,
             )
+
+        if isinstance(auth, str):
+            auth = BasicAuthentication(user, auth)
+
         self.con = trino.dbapi.connect(
             user=user,
             host=host,
@@ -321,7 +328,7 @@ def do_connect(
             schema=schema,
             source=source or "ibis",
             timezone=timezone,
-            auth=auth or password,
+            auth=auth,
             **kwargs,
         )