diff --git a/paddle/pten/api/lib/CMakeLists.txt b/paddle/pten/api/lib/CMakeLists.txt
index 96ad9ade8e3ad587a0289ae4b81965abc3a6104f..d1e60c4505d6b0ad76b695940740c7a03b1ede18 100644
--- a/paddle/pten/api/lib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/paddle/pten/api/lib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ set(api_source_file ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/paddle/pten/api/lib/api.cc)
 set(api_header_file_tmp ${api_header_file}.tmp)
 set(api_source_file_tmp ${api_source_file}.tmp)
 
+if (NOT PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
+  find_package(PythonInterp REQUIRED)
+endif()
+
 add_custom_command(
   OUTPUT ${api_header_file} ${api_source_file}
   COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m pip install pyyaml