diff --git a/rest_framework/filters.py b/rest_framework/filters.py
index 3836e8170..4ac942957 100644
--- a/rest_framework/filters.py
+++ b/rest_framework/filters.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from functools import reduce
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.db import models
+from django.db.models.constants import LOOKUP_SEP
 from django.template import loader
 from django.utils import six
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
@@ -132,6 +133,12 @@ class SearchFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
     # The URL query parameter used for the search.
     search_param = api_settings.SEARCH_PARAM
     template = 'rest_framework/filters/search.html'
+    lookup_prefixes = {
+        '^': 'istartswith',
+        '=': 'iexact',
+        '@': 'search',
+        '$': 'iregex',
+    }
 
     def get_search_terms(self, request):
         """
@@ -142,16 +149,31 @@ class SearchFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
         return params.replace(',', ' ').split()
 
     def construct_search(self, field_name):
-        if field_name.startswith('^'):
-            return "%s__istartswith" % field_name[1:]
-        elif field_name.startswith('='):
-            return "%s__iexact" % field_name[1:]
-        elif field_name.startswith('@'):
-            return "%s__search" % field_name[1:]
-        if field_name.startswith('$'):
-            return "%s__iregex" % field_name[1:]
+        lookup = self.lookup_prefixes.get(field_name[0])
+        if lookup:
+            field_name = field_name[1:]
         else:
-            return "%s__icontains" % field_name
+            lookup = 'icontains'
+        return LOOKUP_SEP.join([field_name, lookup])
+
+    def must_call_distinct(self, opts, lookups):
+        """
+        Return True if 'distinct()' should be used to query the given lookups.
+        """
+        for lookup in lookups:
+            if lookup[0] in self.lookup_prefixes:
+                lookup = lookup[1:]
+            parts = lookup.split(LOOKUP_SEP)
+            for part in parts:
+                field = opts.get_field(part)
+                if hasattr(field, 'get_path_info'):
+                    # This field is a relation, update opts to follow the relation
+                    path_info = field.get_path_info()
+                    opts = path_info[-1].to_opts
+                    if any(path.m2m for path in path_info):
+                        # This field is a m2m relation so we know we need to call distinct
+                        return True
+        return False
 
     def filter_queryset(self, request, queryset, view):
         search_fields = getattr(view, 'search_fields', None)
@@ -173,10 +195,12 @@ class SearchFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
             ]
             queryset = queryset.filter(reduce(operator.or_, queries))
 
-        # Filtering against a many-to-many field requires us to
-        # call queryset.distinct() in order to avoid duplicate items
-        # in the resulting queryset.
-        return distinct(queryset, base)
+        if self.must_call_distinct(queryset.model._meta, search_fields):
+            # Filtering against a many-to-many field requires us to
+            # call queryset.distinct() in order to avoid duplicate items
+            # in the resulting queryset.
+            queryset = distinct(queryset, base)
+        return queryset
 
     def to_html(self, request, queryset, view):
         if not getattr(view, 'search_fields', None):
diff --git a/tests/test_filters.py b/tests/test_filters.py
index 646d8a625..4c3e2af0b 100644
--- a/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -500,6 +500,21 @@ class SearchFilterM2MTests(TestCase):
         response = view(request)
         self.assertEqual(len(response.data), 1)
 
+    def test_must_call_distinct(self):
+        filter_ = filters.SearchFilter()
+        prefixes = [''] + list(filter_.lookup_prefixes)
+        for prefix in prefixes:
+            self.assertFalse(
+                filter_.must_call_distinct(
+                    SearchFilterModelM2M._meta, ["%stitle" % prefix]
+                )
+            )
+            self.assertTrue(
+                filter_.must_call_distinct(
+                    SearchFilterModelM2M._meta, ["%stitle" % prefix, "%sattributes__label" % prefix]
+                )
+            )
+
 
 class OrderingFilterModel(models.Model):
     title = models.CharField(max_length=20, verbose_name='verbose title')