diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/trainer.py b/python/paddle/fluid/trainer.py
index b4f719855f4791a081c0ef4a9f06fd816dc65ff6..69577a98fbd5a3b7f26730f4f6fdb518020b2ecf 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/trainer.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/trainer.py
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ class Trainer(object):
         return self._get_parallel_executor()
 
     def _clean_checkpoint(self):
-        if not self.checkpoint:
+        if not self.checkpoint and not self.chief:
             return
         io.clean_checkpoint(checkpoint_dir=self.checkpoint.checkpoint_dir)