diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/optimizer.py b/python/paddle/fluid/optimizer.py
index 6e7a90e44e5f2669143b95529a0b91d1764f6bf9..85d07f687e3f68a9e11ddc1938f66545836bf9eb 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/optimizer.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/optimizer.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 import numpy as np
+import six
 import logging
 from collections import defaultdict
 
@@ -4554,6 +4555,17 @@ class RecomputeOptimizer(Optimizer):
         self._learning_rate_map = self._optimizer._learning_rate_map
 
     def _set_checkpoints(self, checkpoints):
+        """
+        Args:
+            checkpoints (list): List of Variable or string    
+        """
+        assert isinstance(
+            checkpoints, list
+        ), "_checkpoints should be a list of Variable or a list of String"
+        for ckpt in checkpoints:
+            assert (
+                isinstance(ckpt, six.string_types) or isinstance(ckpt, Variable)
+            ), "_checkpoints should be a list of Variable or a list of String"
         self._checkpoints = checkpoints
 
     def load(self, stat_dict):
@@ -4690,6 +4702,8 @@ class RecomputeOptimizer(Optimizer):
                     no_grad_set=None)
                 print("Finished backward")
         """
+        assert (self._checkpoints is not None
+                ), "You should call _set_checkpoints first"
 
         if framework.in_dygraph_mode():
             raise NotImplementedError(
@@ -4698,11 +4712,15 @@ class RecomputeOptimizer(Optimizer):
         self._dtype = loss.dtype
         program = loss.block.program
         with program_guard(program, startup_program):
+            checkpoint_vars = []
+            for ckpt in self._checkpoints:
+                if isinstance(ckpt, Variable):
+                    checkpoint_vars.append(ckpt)
+                else:
+                    checkpoint_vars.append(loss.block.var(ckpt))
+
             params_grads = append_backward(
-                loss,
-                parameter_list,
-                no_grad_set,
-                checkpoints=self._checkpoints)
+                loss, parameter_list, no_grad_set, checkpoints=checkpoint_vars)
             # Note: since we can't use all_reduce_op now,
             #  dgc_op should be the last op of one grad.
             if hasattr(self._optimizer, "_append_dgc_ops"):
diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_dgc_optimizer.py b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_dgc_optimizer.py
index 70fd4653b48cdf5f132e6a876f21abf15eb285b2..49b93e0dfaaacddc9916f91a9ccd6c7e8bbd1714 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_dgc_optimizer.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_dgc_optimizer.py
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ class TestDGCMomentumOptimizer(unittest.TestCase):
         if use_recompute:
             dgc_momentum_optimizer = optimizer.RecomputeOptimizer(
                 dgc_momentum_optimizer)
+            dgc_momentum_optimizer._set_checkpoints([])
             dgc_momentum_optimizer.get_accumulators = dgc_momentum_optimizer._optimizer.get_accumulators
             dgc_momentum_optimizer.get_velocity_str = dgc_momentum_optimizer._optimizer.get_velocity_str
 
diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_optimizer.py b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_optimizer.py
index 3384c80499b63751826115bb55dec98a258badd4..2e6e516aa2edde79e6524b4b35507ea95876ec53 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_optimizer.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_optimizer.py
@@ -714,6 +714,23 @@ class TestRecomputeOptimizer(unittest.TestCase):
             "elementwise_add_grad", "mul_grad", "sgd", "sgd", "sgd"
         ])
 
+    def test_str_checkpoints(self):
+        mul_out, b1_out, b2_out, mean_out = self.net()
+        self.assertEqual(len(mean_out.block.ops), 4)
+        self.assertEqual([op.type for op in mean_out.block.ops],
+                         ["mul", "elementwise_add", "elementwise_add", "mean"])
+        sgd_optimizer = optimizer.SGD(learning_rate=1.0)
+        recompute_optimizer = optimizer.RecomputeOptimizer(sgd_optimizer)
+        recompute_optimizer._set_checkpoints([b1_out.name])
+        opts, params_grads = recompute_optimizer.minimize(mean_out)
+
+        self.assertEqual(len(mean_out.block.ops), 13)
+        self.assertEqual([op.type for op in mean_out.block.ops], [
+            "mul", "elementwise_add", "elementwise_add", "mean",
+            "fill_constant", "mean_grad", "elementwise_add_grad", "mul",
+            "elementwise_add_grad", "mul_grad", "sgd", "sgd", "sgd"
+        ])
+
     def test_multi_checkpoint(self):
         mul_out, b1_out, b2_out, mean_out = self.net()
         self.assertEqual(len(mean_out.block.ops), 4)