diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 7de1490b7..b4f94996c 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ Release 1.1.3 (in development)
 
 * #876: Fix quickstart test under Python 3.
 
+* #870: Fix spurious KeyErrors when removing documents.
+
 
 Release 1.1.2 (Nov 1, 2011) -- 1.1.1 is a silly version number anyway!
 ======================================================================
diff --git a/sphinx/environment.py b/sphinx/environment.py
index 6ea1e248c..09e0f1d37 100644
--- a/sphinx/environment.py
+++ b/sphinx/environment.py
@@ -1164,7 +1164,12 @@ class BuildEnvironment:
 
     def get_toc_for(self, docname, builder):
         """Return a TOC nodetree -- for use on the same page only!"""
-        toc = self.tocs[docname].deepcopy()
+        try:
+            toc = self.tocs[docname].deepcopy()
+        except KeyError:
+            # the document does not exist anymore: return a dummy node that
+            # renders to nothing
+            return nodes.paragraph()
         self.process_only_nodes(toc, builder, docname)
         for node in toc.traverse(nodes.reference):
             node['refuri'] = node['anchorname'] or '#'