diff --git a/paddle/framework/CMakeLists.txt b/paddle/framework/CMakeLists.txt
index 05ae2daf6a5ce5aa652cdb25bec45697239fc4f4..1a6f90c1effbe01ce080e82b40fc9ce71413c51d 100644
--- a/paddle/framework/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/paddle/framework/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ cc_test(backward_test SRCS backward_test.cc DEPS backward recurrent_op device_co
 
 cc_library(executor SRCS executor.cc DEPS op_registry device_context scope framework_proto backward)
 
+cc_library(prune SRCS prune.cc DEPS framework_proto)
+cc_test(prune_test SRCS prune_test.cc DEPS op_info prune recurrent_op device_context)
+
 cc_library(tensor_array SRCS tensor_array.cc DEPS lod_tensor)
 cc_test(tensor_array_test SRCS tensor_array_test.cc DEPS tensor_array place)
 
diff --git a/paddle/framework/framework.proto b/paddle/framework/framework.proto
index 65760b07ada7a63a568cb8296eef35a8aa18d9ff..008fb45fb7bcb2f9b3d02376b15d2f88515f86d9 100644
--- a/paddle/framework/framework.proto
+++ b/paddle/framework/framework.proto
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ message OpDesc {
   repeated Var inputs = 1;
   repeated Var outputs = 2;
   repeated Attr attrs = 4;
+  optional bool is_target = 5 [ default = false ];
 };
 
 // OpProto describes a C++ framework::OperatorBase derived class.
diff --git a/paddle/framework/prune.cc b/paddle/framework/prune.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..95833692925af4477fe575d6bd908a2ce7653c1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paddle/framework/prune.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+/* Copyright (c) 2016 PaddlePaddle Authors. All Rights Reserve.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License. */
+
+#include "paddle/framework/prune.h"
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <set>
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+#include <glog/logging.h>
+
+namespace paddle {
+namespace framework {
+
+const std::string kFeedOpType = "feed";
+const std::string kFetchOpType = "fetch";
+
+bool HasDependentVar(const OpDesc& op_desc,
+                     const std::set<std::string>& dependent_vars) {
+  for (auto& var : op_desc.outputs()) {
+    for (auto& argu : var.arguments()) {
+      if (dependent_vars.count(argu) != 0) {
+        return true;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+bool IsTarget(const OpDesc& op_desc) {
+  if (op_desc.has_is_target()) {
+    return op_desc.is_target();
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+void prune_impl(const ProgramDesc& input, ProgramDesc& output, int block_id) {
+  // TODO(tonyyang-svail):
+  //    - will change to use multiple blocks for RNN op and Cond Op
+
+  auto& block = input.blocks(block_id);
+  auto& ops = block.ops();
+
+  bool expect_feed = true;
+  for (auto& op_desc : ops) {
+    PADDLE_ENFORCE(op_desc.type() != kFeedOpType || expect_feed,
+                   "All FeedOps are at the beginning of the ProgramDesc");
+    expect_feed = (op_desc.type() == kFeedOpType);
+  }
+
+  bool expect_fetch = true;
+  for (auto op_iter = ops.rbegin(); op_iter != ops.rend(); ++op_iter) {
+    auto& op_desc = *op_iter;
+    PADDLE_ENFORCE(op_desc.type() != kFetchOpType || expect_fetch,
+                   "All FetchOps must at the end of the ProgramDesc");
+    expect_fetch = (op_desc.type() == kFetchOpType);
+  }
+
+  std::set<std::string> dependent_vars;
+  std::vector<bool> should_run;
+  for (auto op_iter = ops.rbegin(); op_iter != ops.rend(); ++op_iter) {
+    auto& op_desc = *op_iter;
+
+    if (IsTarget(op_desc) || HasDependentVar(op_desc, dependent_vars)) {
+      // insert its input to the dependency graph
+      for (auto& var : op_desc.inputs()) {
+        for (auto& argu : var.arguments()) {
+          dependent_vars.insert(argu);
+        }
+      }
+
+      should_run.push_back(true);
+    } else {
+      should_run.push_back(false);
+    }
+  }
+
+  // since we are traversing the ProgramDesc in reverse order
+  // we reverse the should_run vector
+  std::reverse(should_run.begin(), should_run.end());
+
+  output = input;
+  auto* op_field = output.mutable_blocks(block_id)->mutable_ops();
+  op_field->Clear();
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < should_run.size(); ++i) {
+    if (should_run[i]) {
+      *op_field->Add() = input.blocks(block_id).ops(i);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+void Prune(const ProgramDesc& input, ProgramDesc& output) {
+  prune_impl(input, output, 0);
+}
+
+}  // namespace framework
+}  // namespace paddle
diff --git a/paddle/framework/prune.h b/paddle/framework/prune.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9414ac64f9491c07aabb216a4c81dfe6e78e8043
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paddle/framework/prune.h
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/* Copyright (c) 2016 PaddlePaddle Authors. All Rights Reserve.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License. */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include "paddle/framework/framework.pb.h"
+#include "paddle/platform/enforce.h"
+
+namespace paddle {
+namespace framework {
+
+void Prune(const ProgramDesc& input, ProgramDesc& output);
+
+}  // namespace framework
+}  // namespace paddle
diff --git a/paddle/framework/prune_test.cc b/paddle/framework/prune_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3ab4b43d9256af5880083b00df446c451e3f598b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/paddle/framework/prune_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+/* Copyright (c) 2016 PaddlePaddle Authors. All Rights Reserve.
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License. */
+
+#include "paddle/framework/prune.h"
+
+#include "paddle/framework/attribute.h"
+#include "paddle/framework/operator.h"
+#include "paddle/operators/net_op.h"
+
+#include "paddle/framework/block_desc.h"
+#include "paddle/framework/op_desc.h"
+#include "paddle/framework/program_desc.h"
+
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+namespace f = paddle::framework;
+namespace ops = paddle::operators;
+
+void AddOp(const std::string &type, const f::VariableNameMap &inputs,
+           const f::VariableNameMap &outputs, f::AttributeMap attrs,
+           paddle::framework::BlockDescBind *block) {
+  // insert output
+  for (auto kv : outputs) {
+    for (auto v : kv.second) {
+      auto var = block->Var(v);
+      var->SetDataType(paddle::framework::DataType::FP32);
+    }
+  }
+
+  // insert op
+  auto op = block->AppendOp();
+  op->SetType(type);
+  for (auto &kv : inputs) {
+    op->SetInput(kv.first, kv.second);
+  }
+  for (auto &kv : outputs) {
+    op->SetOutput(kv.first, kv.second);
+  }
+  op->SetAttrMap(attrs);
+}
+
+TEST(Prune, one_operator) {
+  f::ProgramDescBind program;
+  f::BlockDescBind *block = program.Block(0);
+
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"a"}}}, {{"output", {"b"}}}, {}, block);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc *pdesc = program.Proto();
+  f::ProgramDesc pruned;
+
+  Prune(*pdesc, pruned);
+  PADDLE_ENFORCE_EQ(pruned.blocks(0).ops_size(), 0);
+
+  pdesc->mutable_blocks(0)->mutable_ops(0)->set_is_target(true);
+  Prune(*pdesc, pruned);
+  PADDLE_ENFORCE_EQ(pruned.blocks(0).ops_size(), 1);
+}
+
+TEST(Prune, forward) {
+  f::ProgramDescBind program;
+  f::BlockDescBind *block = program.Block(0);
+
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"a"}}}, {{"output", {"b"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"b"}}}, {{"output", {"c"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"c"}}}, {{"output", {"d"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"d"}}}, {{"output", {"e"}}}, {}, block);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc *pdesc = program.Proto();
+
+  for (int i = 0; i < pdesc->blocks(0).ops_size(); ++i) {
+    f::ProgramDesc pruned;
+    pdesc->mutable_blocks(0)->mutable_ops(i)->set_is_target(true);
+    Prune(*pdesc, pruned);
+    PADDLE_ENFORCE_EQ(pruned.blocks(0).ops_size(), i + 1);
+  }
+}
+
+TEST(Prune, multi_input_op) {
+  f::ProgramDescBind program;
+  f::BlockDescBind *block = program.Block(0);
+
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"a0"}}}, {{"output", {"b0"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"a1"}}}, {{"output", {"b1"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"a2"}}}, {{"output", {"b2"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("three_one", {{"input", {"b0", "b1", "b2"}}}, {{"output", {"c"}}}, {},
+        block);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc *pdesc = program.Proto();
+  pdesc->mutable_blocks(0)->mutable_ops(3)->set_is_target(true);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc pruned;
+  Prune(*pdesc, pruned);
+  PADDLE_ENFORCE_EQ(pruned.blocks(0).ops_size(), 4);
+}
+
+TEST(Prune, multi_output_op) {
+  f::ProgramDescBind program;
+  f::BlockDescBind *block = program.Block(0);
+
+  AddOp("one_two", {{"input", {"a"}}}, {{"output", {"b", "c"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"b"}}}, {{"output", {"b1"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"c"}}}, {{"output", {"c1"}}}, {}, block);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc *pdesc = program.Proto();
+  pdesc->mutable_blocks(0)->mutable_ops(2)->set_is_target(true);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc pruned;
+  Prune(*pdesc, pruned);
+  PADDLE_ENFORCE_EQ(pruned.blocks(0).ops_size(), 2);
+}
+
+TEST(Prune, multi_target) {
+  f::ProgramDescBind program;
+  f::BlockDescBind *block = program.Block(0);
+
+  AddOp("one_two", {{"input", {"a"}}}, {{"output", {"b", "c"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"b"}}}, {{"output", {"b1"}}}, {}, block);
+  AddOp("one_one", {{"input", {"c"}}}, {{"output", {"c1"}}}, {}, block);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc *pdesc = program.Proto();
+  pdesc->mutable_blocks(0)->mutable_ops(1)->set_is_target(true);
+  pdesc->mutable_blocks(0)->mutable_ops(2)->set_is_target(true);
+
+  f::ProgramDesc pruned;
+  Prune(*pdesc, pruned);
+  PADDLE_ENFORCE_EQ(pruned.blocks(0).ops_size(), 3);
+}