diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_group_norm_op_v2.py b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_group_norm_op_v2.py
index 63b69e6107b7828d80c01086fab3e828c8d02ec2..72c2ffa492559e6259da84f0fc9eb5ac6cc42797 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_group_norm_op_v2.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_group_norm_op_v2.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class TestDygraphGroupNormv2(unittest.TestCase):
 
                     def attr_data_format():
                         out = paddle.nn.GroupNorm(
-                            num_groups=2, num_channels=2, data_format="NHWC"
+                            num_groups=2, num_channels=2, data_format="CNHW"
                         )
 
                     self.assertRaises(ValueError, attr_data_format)
diff --git a/python/paddle/nn/layer/norm.py b/python/paddle/nn/layer/norm.py
index e95cff7b167327f8a3b997c3f43a6dc6ba8a944c..503b95f5b4257fb31450c0671dbbb0f2ce5fa44d 100644
--- a/python/paddle/nn/layer/norm.py
+++ b/python/paddle/nn/layer/norm.py
@@ -377,8 +377,9 @@ class GroupNorm(Layer):
         self._epsilon = epsilon
         self._num_channels = num_channels
         self._num_groups = num_groups
-        if data_format != 'NCHW':
+        if data_format not in ['NCHW', 'NHWC']:
             raise ValueError("unsupported data layout:" + data_format)
+        self._data_format = data_format
 
         param_shape = [self._num_channels]
 
@@ -430,7 +431,7 @@ class GroupNorm(Layer):
                 self.bias,
                 self._epsilon,
                 self._num_groups,
-                "NCHW",
+                self._data_format,
             )
 
             return dygraph_utils._append_activation_in_dygraph(