diff --git a/django/shortcuts/__init__.py b/django/shortcuts/__init__.py
index 823c6bb5e7..724d0498fb 100644
--- a/django/shortcuts/__init__.py
+++ b/django/shortcuts/__init__.py
@@ -11,12 +11,13 @@ from django.db.models.manager import Manager
 from django.db.models.query import QuerySet
 from django.core import urlresolvers
 
+accepted_kwargs = ('content_type', 'mimetype', 'request')
 def render_to_response(*args, **kwargs):
     """
     Returns a HttpResponse whose content is filled with the result of calling
     django.template.loader.render_to_string() with the passed arguments.
     """
-    httpresponse_kwargs = {'mimetype': kwargs.pop('mimetype', None)}
+    httpresponse_kwargs = dict([(k, kwargs.pop(k, None)) for k in accepted_kwargs])
     return HttpResponse(loader.render_to_string(*args, **kwargs), **httpresponse_kwargs)
 
 def redirect(to, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -98,4 +99,4 @@ def get_list_or_404(klass, *args, **kwargs):
     obj_list = list(queryset.filter(*args, **kwargs))
     if not obj_list:
         raise Http404('No %s matches the given query.' % queryset.model._meta.object_name)
-    return obj_list
\ No newline at end of file
+    return obj_list
diff --git a/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt b/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
index 2bc35a3b9f..15aa6c4fa7 100644
--- a/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ introduce controlled coupling for convenience's sake.
 ``render_to_response``
 ======================
 
-.. function:: render_to_response(template[, dictionary][, context_instance][, mimetype])
+.. function:: render_to_response(template[, dictionary][, context_instance][, mimetype, content_type, status])
 
    Renders a given template with a given context dictionary and returns an
    :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` object with that rendered text.
@@ -48,12 +48,25 @@ Optional arguments
                                   my_data_dictionary,
                                   context_instance=RequestContext(request))
 
+``content_type``
+    .. versionadded:: 1.2
+
+    The value for the Content-Type header to use in the resulting document. Can
+    also contain a MIME type. Defaults to the value of the :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` setting.
+
 ``mimetype``
     .. versionadded:: 1.0
 
-    The MIME type to use for the resulting document. Defaults to the value of
+    Alias for content_type, for backwards compatibility. Defaults to the value of
     the :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` setting.
 
+``request``
+    .. versionadded:: 1.2
+
+    The request can be passed to HttpResponse for handling the Accept-Charset
+    header, which allows clients to specify the encoding in which they wish to
+    receive the content.
+
 Example
 -------