diff --git a/python/paddle/trainer_config_helpers/layers.py b/python/paddle/trainer_config_helpers/layers.py
index 40ac3698bb20c0a68301154816bcdb0efb0d90a7..351bd8fea81fa9c4b9335038513f34890a44dd78 100755
--- a/python/paddle/trainer_config_helpers/layers.py
+++ b/python/paddle/trainer_config_helpers/layers.py
@@ -2269,7 +2269,7 @@ def img_depthwise_conv_layer(input,
                              name=None,
                              num_channels=None,
                              act=None,
-                             groups=1,
+                             groups=None,
                              stride=1,
                              padding=0,
                              bias_attr=None,
@@ -2286,6 +2286,8 @@ def img_depthwise_conv_layer(input,
         assert input.num_filters is not None
         num_channels = input.num_filters
 
+    groups = num_channels
+
     if filter_size_y is None:
         if isinstance(filter_size, collections.Sequence):
             assert len(filter_size) == 2