diff --git a/src/uu/tsort/src/tsort.rs b/src/uu/tsort/src/tsort.rs
index 85380bf403b..838ce477848 100644
--- a/src/uu/tsort/src/tsort.rs
+++ b/src/uu/tsort/src/tsort.rs
@@ -227,8 +227,8 @@ impl<'input> Graph<'input> {
         for node in &cycle {
             show!(TsortError::LoopNode((*node).to_string()));
         }
-        let u = cycle[0];
-        let v = cycle[1];
+        let u = *cycle.last().expect("cycle must be non-empty");
+        let v = cycle[0];
         self.remove_edge(u, v);
         if self.indegree(v).unwrap() == 0 {
             frontier.push_back(v);
@@ -236,18 +236,20 @@ impl<'input> Graph<'input> {
     }
 
     fn detect_cycle(&self) -> Vec<&'input str> {
-        // Sort the nodes just to make this function deterministic.
-        let mut nodes: Vec<_> = self.nodes.keys().collect();
+        let mut nodes: Vec<_> = self.nodes.keys().copied().collect();
         nodes.sort_unstable();
 
-        let mut visited = HashSet::new();
-        let mut stack = Vec::with_capacity(self.nodes.len());
+        let mut visited: HashSet<&'input str> = HashSet::new();
+        let mut stack: Vec<&'input str> = Vec::with_capacity(self.nodes.len());
         for node in nodes {
-            if !visited.contains(node) && self.dfs(node, &mut visited, &mut stack) {
-                return stack;
+            if visited.contains(&node) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            if let Some(cycle) = self.dfs(node, &mut visited, &mut stack) {
+                return cycle;
             }
         }
-        unreachable!();
+        unreachable!("detect_cycle called only when a cycle exists");
     }
 
     fn dfs(
@@ -255,12 +257,12 @@ impl<'input> Graph<'input> {
         node: &'input str,
         visited: &mut HashSet<&'input str>,
         stack: &mut Vec<&'input str>,
-    ) -> bool {
-        if stack.contains(&node) {
-            return true;
+    ) -> Option<Vec<&'input str>> {
+        if let Some(pos) = stack.iter().position(|&n| n == node) {
+            return Some(stack[pos..].to_vec());
         }
         if visited.contains(&node) {
-            return false;
+            return None;
         }
 
         visited.insert(node);
@@ -268,13 +270,13 @@ impl<'input> Graph<'input> {
 
         if let Some(successor_names) = self.nodes.get(node).map(|n| &n.successor_names) {
             for &successor in successor_names {
-                if self.dfs(successor, visited, stack) {
-                    return true;
+                if let Some(cycle) = self.dfs(successor, visited, stack) {
+                    return Some(cycle);
                 }
             }
         }
 
         stack.pop();
-        false
+        None
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_tsort.rs b/tests/by-util/test_tsort.rs
index eb1a8630d31..0ae86cdc2ca 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_tsort.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_tsort.rs
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ fn test_cycle() {
     new_ucmd!()
         .pipe_in("a b b c c d c b")
         .fails_with_code(1)
-        .stdout_is("a\nc\nd\nb\n")
+        .stdout_is("a\nb\nc\nd\n")
         .stderr_is("tsort: -: input contains a loop:\ntsort: b\ntsort: c\n");
 }
 
@@ -119,6 +119,6 @@ fn test_two_cycles() {
     new_ucmd!()
         .pipe_in("a b b c c b b d d b")
         .fails_with_code(1)
-        .stdout_is("a\nc\nd\nb\n")
+        .stdout_is("a\nb\nc\nd\n")
         .stderr_is("tsort: -: input contains a loop:\ntsort: b\ntsort: c\ntsort: -: input contains a loop:\ntsort: b\ntsort: d\n");
 }