diff --git a/lib/WebService/Solr.pm b/lib/WebService/Solr.pm
index bae6a26..292991c 100644
--- a/lib/WebService/Solr.pm
+++ b/lib/WebService/Solr.pm
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ sub generic_solr_request {
             $self->agent->post(
                 $self->_gen_url( $path ),
                 Content_Type => 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=utf-8',
-                Content => { $self->default_params, %$params } ) ) );
+                Content => $self->_encode_content( { $self->default_params, %$params } ) ) ) );
 }
 
 sub _gen_url {
@@ -172,6 +172,18 @@ sub _gen_url {
     return $url;
 }
 
+sub _encode_content {
+    my ( $self, $param ) = @_;
+
+    if ( ref $param eq "HASH" ) {
+        return { map { $self->_encode_content($_) } %$param };
+    } elsif ( ref $param eq "ARRAY" ) {
+        return [ map { $self->_encode_content($_) } @$param ];
+    } else {
+        return encode('utf-8', $param);
+    }
+}
+
 sub _send_update {
     my ( $self, $xml, $params, $autocommit ) = @_;
     $autocommit = $self->autocommit unless defined $autocommit;
diff --git a/t/request/search.t b/t/request/search.t
index b1e05e0..d0070e9 100644
--- a/t/request/search.t
+++ b/t/request/search.t
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-use Test::More tests => 5;
+use Test::More tests => 8;
 use Test::Mock::LWP;
 
 use WebService::Solr;
@@ -28,6 +28,15 @@ my ( $expect_path, $expect_params );
     is $solr->last_response, undef, "The last_response attribute hasn't been set yet";
     $solr->search( 'foo' );
     isa_ok $solr->last_response, 'WebService::Solr::Response';
+
+    $expect_params = {
+        q => "\xc3\x86\xc3\x98\xc3\x85",
+        wt => 'json',
+        fl => 'id',
+        fq => [ 'id:[0 TO 42]', "value:\xc3\x86\xc3\x98\xc3\x85" ]
+    };
+    $solr->search( "\xc6\xd8\xc5", { fl => 'id', fq => [ 'id:[0 TO 42]', "value:\xc6\xd8\xc5" ] } );
+    isa_ok $solr->last_response, 'WebService::Solr::Response';
 }
 
 sub _test_req {