diff --git a/src/backend/replication/slot.c b/src/backend/replication/slot.c
index b9e2b115dab..94993c677d2 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/slot.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/slot.c
@@ -2081,6 +2081,7 @@ SaveSlotToPath(ReplicationSlot *slot, const char *dir, int elevel)
 
 		pgstat_report_wait_end();
 		CloseTransientFile(fd);
+		unlink(tmppath);
 		LWLockRelease(&slot->io_in_progress_lock);
 
 		/* if write didn't set errno, assume problem is no disk space */
@@ -2101,7 +2102,9 @@ SaveSlotToPath(ReplicationSlot *slot, const char *dir, int elevel)
 
 		pgstat_report_wait_end();
 		CloseTransientFile(fd);
+		unlink(tmppath);
 		LWLockRelease(&slot->io_in_progress_lock);
+
 		errno = save_errno;
 		ereport(elevel,
 				(errcode_for_file_access(),
@@ -2115,7 +2118,9 @@ SaveSlotToPath(ReplicationSlot *slot, const char *dir, int elevel)
 	{
 		int			save_errno = errno;
 
+		unlink(tmppath);
 		LWLockRelease(&slot->io_in_progress_lock);
+
 		errno = save_errno;
 		ereport(elevel,
 				(errcode_for_file_access(),
@@ -2129,7 +2134,9 @@ SaveSlotToPath(ReplicationSlot *slot, const char *dir, int elevel)
 	{
 		int			save_errno = errno;
 
+		unlink(tmppath);
 		LWLockRelease(&slot->io_in_progress_lock);
+
 		errno = save_errno;
 		ereport(elevel,
 				(errcode_for_file_access(),