diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.1.0.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.1.0.rst
index 12d35288d1ee6..e6a114b491670 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.1.0.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.1.0.rst
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ enhancement2
 
 Other enhancements
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+- :meth:`MultiIndex.sortlevel` and :meth:`Index.sortlevel` gained a new keyword ``na_position`` (:issue:`51612`)
 - Improve error message when setting :class:`DataFrame` with wrong number of columns through :meth:`DataFrame.isetitem` (:issue:`51701`)
 -
 
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@ Performance improvements
 - Performance improvement in :meth:`DataFrame.first_valid_index` and :meth:`DataFrame.last_valid_index` for extension array dtypes (:issue:`51549`)
 - Performance improvement in :meth:`DataFrame.where` when ``cond`` is backed by an extension dtype (:issue:`51574`)
 - Performance improvement in :meth:`read_orc` when reading a remote URI file path. (:issue:`51609`)
+- Performance improvement in :meth:`MultiIndex.sortlevel` when ``ascending`` is a list (:issue:`51612`)
 - Performance improvement in :meth:`~arrays.ArrowExtensionArray.isna` when array has zero nulls or is all nulls (:issue:`51630`)
 
 .. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/pandas/core/indexes/base.py b/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
index acebe8a498f03..4f89686e5a820 100644
--- a/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
+++ b/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
@@ -1893,7 +1893,11 @@ def _get_level_number(self, level) -> int:
         return 0
 
     def sortlevel(
-        self, level=None, ascending: bool | list[bool] = True, sort_remaining=None
+        self,
+        level=None,
+        ascending: bool | list[bool] = True,
+        sort_remaining=None,
+        na_position: str_t = "first",
     ):
         """
         For internal compatibility with the Index API.
@@ -1904,6 +1908,11 @@ def sortlevel(
         ----------
         ascending : bool, default True
             False to sort in descending order
+        na_position : {'first' or 'last'}, default 'first'
+            Argument 'first' puts NaNs at the beginning, 'last' puts NaNs at
+            the end.
+
+            .. versionadded:: 2.1.0
 
         level, sort_remaining are compat parameters
 
@@ -1925,7 +1934,9 @@ def sortlevel(
         if not isinstance(ascending, bool):
             raise TypeError("ascending must be a bool value")
 
-        return self.sort_values(return_indexer=True, ascending=ascending)
+        return self.sort_values(
+            return_indexer=True, ascending=ascending, na_position=na_position
+        )
 
     def _get_level_values(self, level) -> Index:
         """
diff --git a/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py b/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py
index b381752818ba0..857d1fb3f6554 100644
--- a/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py
+++ b/pandas/core/indexes/multi.py
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@
 from pandas.core.ops.invalid import make_invalid_op
 from pandas.core.sorting import (
     get_group_index,
-    indexer_from_factorized,
     lexsort_indexer,
 )
 
@@ -2367,6 +2366,7 @@ def sortlevel(
         level: IndexLabel = 0,
         ascending: bool | list[bool] = True,
         sort_remaining: bool = True,
+        na_position: str = "first",
     ) -> tuple[MultiIndex, npt.NDArray[np.intp]]:
         """
         Sort MultiIndex at the requested level.
@@ -2383,6 +2383,11 @@ def sortlevel(
             False to sort in descending order.
             Can also be a list to specify a directed ordering.
         sort_remaining : sort by the remaining levels after level
+        na_position : {'first' or 'last'}, default 'first'
+            Argument 'first' puts NaNs at the beginning, 'last' puts NaNs at
+            the end.
+
+            .. versionadded:: 2.1.0
 
         Returns
         -------
@@ -2428,40 +2433,21 @@ def sortlevel(
         ]
         sortorder = None
 
+        codes = [self.codes[lev] for lev in level]
         # we have a directed ordering via ascending
         if isinstance(ascending, list):
             if not len(level) == len(ascending):
                 raise ValueError("level must have same length as ascending")
-
-            indexer = lexsort_indexer(
-                [self.codes[lev] for lev in level], orders=ascending
+        elif sort_remaining:
+            codes.extend(
+                [self.codes[lev] for lev in range(len(self.levels)) if lev not in level]
             )
-
-        # level ordering
         else:
-            codes = list(self.codes)
-            shape = list(self.levshape)
-
-            # partition codes and shape
-            primary = tuple(codes[lev] for lev in level)
-            primshp = tuple(shape[lev] for lev in level)
-
-            # Reverse sorted to retain the order of
-            # smaller indices that needs to be removed
-            for lev in sorted(level, reverse=True):
-                codes.pop(lev)
-                shape.pop(lev)
-
-            if sort_remaining:
-                primary += primary + tuple(codes)
-                primshp += primshp + tuple(shape)
-            else:
-                sortorder = level[0]
-
-            indexer = indexer_from_factorized(primary, primshp, compress=False)
+            sortorder = level[0]
 
-            if not ascending:
-                indexer = indexer[::-1]
+        indexer = lexsort_indexer(
+            codes, orders=ascending, na_position=na_position, codes_given=True
+        )
 
         indexer = ensure_platform_int(indexer)
         new_codes = [level_codes.take(indexer) for level_codes in self.codes]
diff --git a/pandas/core/sorting.py b/pandas/core/sorting.py
index 970c9998f5f5d..1430dd22c32db 100644
--- a/pandas/core/sorting.py
+++ b/pandas/core/sorting.py
@@ -83,11 +83,14 @@ def get_indexer_indexer(
 
     if level is not None:
         _, indexer = target.sortlevel(
-            level, ascending=ascending, sort_remaining=sort_remaining
+            level,
+            ascending=ascending,
+            sort_remaining=sort_remaining,
+            na_position=na_position,
         )
     elif isinstance(target, ABCMultiIndex):
         indexer = lexsort_indexer(
-            target._get_codes_for_sorting(), orders=ascending, na_position=na_position
+            target.codes, orders=ascending, na_position=na_position, codes_given=True
         )
     else:
         # Check monotonic-ness before sort an index (GH 11080)
@@ -302,7 +305,11 @@ def indexer_from_factorized(
 
 
 def lexsort_indexer(
-    keys, orders=None, na_position: str = "last", key: Callable | None = None
+    keys,
+    orders=None,
+    na_position: str = "last",
+    key: Callable | None = None,
+    codes_given: bool = False,
 ) -> npt.NDArray[np.intp]:
     """
     Performs lexical sorting on a set of keys
@@ -321,6 +328,8 @@ def lexsort_indexer(
         Determines placement of NA elements in the sorted list ("last" or "first")
     key : Callable, optional
         Callable key function applied to every element in keys before sorting
+    codes_given: bool, False
+        Avoid categorical materialization if codes are already provided.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -338,15 +347,27 @@ def lexsort_indexer(
     keys = [ensure_key_mapped(k, key) for k in keys]
 
     for k, order in zip(keys, orders):
-        cat = Categorical(k, ordered=True)
-
         if na_position not in ["last", "first"]:
             raise ValueError(f"invalid na_position: {na_position}")
 
-        n = len(cat.categories)
-        codes = cat.codes.copy()
+        if codes_given:
+            mask = k == -1
+            codes = k.copy()
+            n = len(codes)
+            mask_n = n
+            if mask.any():
+                n -= 1
+
+        else:
+            cat = Categorical(k, ordered=True)
+            n = len(cat.categories)
+            codes = cat.codes.copy()
+            mask = cat.codes == -1
+            if mask.any():
+                mask_n = n + 1
+            else:
+                mask_n = n
 
-        mask = cat.codes == -1
         if order:  # ascending
             if na_position == "last":
                 codes = np.where(mask, n, codes)
@@ -357,10 +378,8 @@ def lexsort_indexer(
                 codes = np.where(mask, n, n - codes - 1)
             elif na_position == "first":
                 codes = np.where(mask, 0, n - codes)
-        if mask.any():
-            n += 1
 
-        shape.append(n)
+        shape.append(mask_n)
         labels.append(codes)
 
     return indexer_from_factorized(labels, tuple(shape))
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_sort_index.py b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_sort_index.py
index 8384fcb4de5aa..a47a988da65c5 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_sort_index.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_sort_index.py
@@ -907,3 +907,10 @@ def test_sort_index_multiindex_sparse_column(self):
         result = expected.sort_index(level=0)
 
         tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
+
+    def test_sort_index_na_position(self):
+        # GH#51612
+        df = DataFrame([1, 2], index=MultiIndex.from_tuples([(1, 1), (1, pd.NA)]))
+        expected = df.copy()
+        result = df.sort_index(level=[0, 1], na_position="last")
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(result, expected)
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexes/multi/test_sorting.py b/pandas/tests/indexes/multi/test_sorting.py
index 2746c12b120ef..9392ff9368c6a 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexes/multi/test_sorting.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexes/multi/test_sorting.py
@@ -76,6 +76,14 @@ def test_sortlevel_deterministic():
     assert sorted_idx.equals(expected[::-1])
 
 
+def test_sortlevel_na_position():
+    # GH#51612
+    midx = MultiIndex.from_tuples([(1, np.nan), (1, 1)])
+    result = midx.sortlevel(level=[0, 1], na_position="last")[0]
+    expected = MultiIndex.from_tuples([(1, 1), (1, np.nan)])
+    tm.assert_index_equal(result, expected)
+
+
 def test_numpy_argsort(idx):
     result = np.argsort(idx)
     expected = idx.argsort()
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py b/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py
index 6dbe61decfc73..cdd3c2c2754b9 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py
@@ -1262,6 +1262,13 @@ def test_sortlevel(self):
         result = index.sortlevel(ascending=False)
         tm.assert_index_equal(result[0], expected)
 
+    def test_sortlevel_na_position(self):
+        # GH#51612
+        idx = Index([1, np.nan])
+        result = idx.sortlevel(na_position="first")[0]
+        expected = Index([np.nan, 1])
+        tm.assert_index_equal(result, expected)
+
 
 class TestMixedIntIndex(Base):
     # Mostly the tests from common.py for which the results differ