diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 030bd19b3fd2f561a847bbc4613e5d2030812a92..5ca9bc51ccd7f30eb170a2ae5fdd5f55e0e74364 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -117,13 +117,14 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 set(WITH_MKLML ${WITH_MKL})
-if (WITH_MKL AND AVX2_FOUND)
-    set(WITH_MKLDNN ON)
-else()
-    message(STATUS "Do not have AVX2 intrinsics and disabled MKL-DNN")
-    set(WITH_MKLDNN OFF)
+if (NOT DEFINED WITH_MKLDNN)
+    if (WITH_MKL AND AVX2_FOUND)
+        set(WITH_MKLDNN ON)
+    else()
+        message(STATUS "Do not have AVX2 intrinsics and disabled MKL-DNN")
+        set(WITH_MKLDNN OFF)
+    endif()
 endif()
-
 ########################################################################################
 
 include(external/mklml)     # download mklml package