diff --git a/paddle/framework/selected_rows.h b/paddle/framework/selected_rows.h
index 417904ea84ac625476a3021a93050098221a792a..f9f563051e264ae7ed7cf3c07c0065522b2bbe2e 100644
--- a/paddle/framework/selected_rows.h
+++ b/paddle/framework/selected_rows.h
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ class SelectedRows {
 
   platform::Place place() const { return value_->place(); }
 
-  Tensor& value() const { return *value_; }
+  const Tensor& value() const { return *value_; }
+
+  Tensor* mutable_value() { return value_.get(); }
 
   int64_t height() const { return height_; }
 
diff --git a/paddle/framework/selected_rows_test.cc b/paddle/framework/selected_rows_test.cc
index 0c7f4600b9fbe6f46e23b9f2af68b359ec9e911e..4ee13a65d72e44693573397bb686b355effb2227 100644
--- a/paddle/framework/selected_rows_test.cc
+++ b/paddle/framework/selected_rows_test.cc
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ class SelectedRowsTester : public ::testing::Test {
     int64_t row_numel = 100;
     selected_rows_.reset(new SelectedRows(rows, height));
 
-    Tensor& value = selected_rows_->value();
-    value.mutable_data<float>(
+    Tensor* value = selected_rows_->mutable_value();
+    value->mutable_data<float>(
         make_ddim({static_cast<int64_t>(rows.size()), row_numel}), place_);
   }