diff --git a/paddle/fluid/pybind/tensor_py.h b/paddle/fluid/pybind/tensor_py.h
index 582fc979d5f0ca3b8c2c2fe556e5511bb822ab9c..ba79c4b44374eb9b50ad4982a2eacd664fc6e75e 100644
--- a/paddle/fluid/pybind/tensor_py.h
+++ b/paddle/fluid/pybind/tensor_py.h
@@ -246,12 +246,13 @@ void SetTensorFromPyArray(framework::Tensor *self, const py::object &obj,
   } else if (py::isinstance<py::array_t<bool>>(array)) {
     SetTensorFromPyArrayT<bool, P>(self, array, place, zero_copy);
   } else {
+    // obj may be any type, obj.cast<py::array>() may be failed,
+    // then the array.dtype will be string of unknown meaning,
     PADDLE_THROW(platform::errors::InvalidArgument(
-        "Incompatible data type: tensor.set() supports bool, float16, "
-        "float32, "
-        "float64, "
-        "int8, int16, int32, int64 and uint8, uint16, but got %s!",
-        array.dtype()));
+        "Input object type error or incompatible array data type. "
+        "tensor.set() supports array with bool, float16, float32, "
+        "float64, int8, int16, int32, int64, uint8 or uint16, "
+        "please check your input or input array data type."));
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_tensor.py b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_tensor.py
index 24be25fda2e357f5aa0f94eb4cf0197387b33d30..03dffe4e5a2fe795d01ae374b33e654a79a4ad46 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_tensor.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_tensor.py
@@ -345,6 +345,22 @@ class TestTensor(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual([2, 200, 300], tensor.shape())
             self.assertTrue(numpy.array_equal(numpy.array(tensor), list_array))
 
+    def test_tensor_set_error(self):
+        scope = core.Scope()
+        var = scope.var("test_tensor")
+        place = core.CPUPlace()
+
+        tensor = var.get_tensor()
+
+        exception = None
+        try:
+            error_array = ["1", "2"]
+            tensor.set(error_array, place)
+        except core.EnforceNotMet as ex:
+            exception = ex
+
+        self.assertIsNotNone(exception)
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()