diff --git a/paddle/operators/recurrent_op.cc b/paddle/operators/recurrent_op.cc
index bcd6a3410a97dbcbf88ddf53bb279be0e015d52b..04c4c24951f5db572486ded5edfc26948a821682 100644
--- a/paddle/operators/recurrent_op.cc
+++ b/paddle/operators/recurrent_op.cc
@@ -53,9 +53,9 @@ void RecurrentAlgorithm::CreateScopes(const Scope& scope,
                                       size_t seq_len) const {
   // TODO(superjom) Only two scopes are needed for inference, this case will be
   // supported later.
-  auto step_scopes_var = scope.FindVar(arg_->step_scopes);
+  auto* step_scopes_var = scope.FindVar(arg_->step_scopes);
   PADDLE_ENFORCE(step_scopes_var != nullptr, "");
-  auto step_scopes = step_scopes_var->GetMutable<std::vector<Scope*>>();
+  auto* step_scopes = step_scopes_var->GetMutable<std::vector<Scope*>>();
 
   // Now all variables in scope must be created outside of op.
   PADDLE_ENFORCE_NOT_NULL(stepnet_);
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ void RecurrentGradientAlgorithm::Run(
   auto* input0 = scope.FindVar(arg_->inlinks[0]);
   PADDLE_ENFORCE_NOT_NULL(input0);
   size_t seq_len = input0->GetMutable<LoDTensor>()->dims()[0];
-  auto step_scopes = GetStepScopes(scope);
+  auto& step_scopes = GetStepScopes(scope);
   rnn::SegmentInputs(step_scopes, arg_->inlinks, seq_len);
   for (int step_id = seq_len - 1; step_id >= 0; --step_id) {
     if (step_id != seq_len - 1) {
diff --git a/paddle/operators/rnn/recurrent_op_utils.cc b/paddle/operators/rnn/recurrent_op_utils.cc
index a37d21d480405f0fcb8e9f9d58cd095e2800e3b8..ef317a71f12c6de974bd8715bb08122b761fae37 100644
--- a/paddle/operators/rnn/recurrent_op_utils.cc
+++ b/paddle/operators/rnn/recurrent_op_utils.cc
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ void LinkMemories(const std::vector<Scope*>& scopes,
   auto* scope = scopes[step_id];
   auto* linked_scope = scopes[step_id + offset];
   for (auto& attr : memories) {
-    auto mem = scope->FindVar(attr.pre_var)->GetMutable<LoDTensor>();
-    auto linked_mem = linked_scope->FindVar(attr.var)->GetMutable<LoDTensor>();
+    auto* mem = scope->FindVar(attr.pre_var)->GetMutable<LoDTensor>();
+    auto* linked_mem = linked_scope->FindVar(attr.var)->GetMutable<LoDTensor>();
     mem->Resize(linked_mem->dims());
     mem->ShareDataWith<float>(*linked_mem);
   }
@@ -106,11 +106,11 @@ void InitArgument(const ArgumentName& name, Argument* arg,
   arg->inlinks = op.Inputs(name.inlinks);
   arg->outlinks = op.Outputs(name.outlinks);
 
-  auto boot_memories =
+  auto& boot_memories =
       is_grad ? op.Outputs(name.boot_memories) : op.Inputs(name.boot_memories);
   // attributes
-  auto memories = op.Attr<std::vector<std::string>>(name.memories);
-  auto pre_memories = op.Attr<std::vector<std::string>>(name.pre_memories);
+  auto& memories = op.Attr<std::vector<std::string>>(name.memories);
+  auto& pre_memories = op.Attr<std::vector<std::string>>(name.pre_memories);
 
   PADDLE_ENFORCE(memories.size() == boot_memories.size(),
                  "the size of memories, boot_memories don't match:%d,%d",