diff --git a/docs/api-guide/filtering.md b/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
index 1a04ad5e3..5d1f6e49a 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
@@ -218,6 +218,13 @@ For example:
 
 By default, the search parameter is named `'search`', but this may be overridden with the `SEARCH_PARAM` setting.
 
+To dynamically change search fields based on request content, it's possible to subclass the `SearchFilter` and override the `get_search_fields()` function. For example, the following subclass will only search on `title` if the query parameter `title_only` is in the request:
+
+    class CustomSearchFilter(self, view, request):
+        if request.query_params.get('title_only'):
+            return ('title',)
+        return super(CustomSearchFilter, self).get_search_fields(view, request)
+
 For more details, see the [Django documentation][search-django-admin].
 
 ---
diff --git a/rest_framework/filters.py b/rest_framework/filters.py
index 0627bd8c4..53d49ae45 100644
--- a/rest_framework/filters.py
+++ b/rest_framework/filters.py
@@ -53,6 +53,14 @@ class SearchFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
     search_title = _('Search')
     search_description = _('A search term.')
 
+    def get_search_fields(self, view, request):
+        """
+        Search fields are obtained from the view, but the request is always
+        passed to this method. Sub-classes can override this method to
+        dynamically change the search fields based on request content.
+        """
+        return getattr(view, 'search_fields', None)
+
     def get_search_terms(self, request):
         """
         Search terms are set by a ?search=... query parameter,
@@ -90,7 +98,7 @@ class SearchFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
         return False
 
     def filter_queryset(self, request, queryset, view):
-        search_fields = getattr(view, 'search_fields', None)
+        search_fields = self.get_search_fields(view, request)
         search_terms = self.get_search_terms(request)
 
         if not search_fields or not search_terms:
diff --git a/tests/test_filters.py b/tests/test_filters.py
index 2d4eb132e..39a96f994 100644
--- a/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -156,6 +156,31 @@ class SearchFilterTests(TestCase):
 
         reload_module(filters)
 
+    def test_search_with_filter_subclass(self):
+        class CustomSearchFilter(filters.SearchFilter):
+            # Filter that dynamically changes search fields
+            def get_search_fields(self, view, request):
+                if request.query_params.get('title_only'):
+                    return ('$title',)
+                return super(CustomSearchFilter, self).get_search_fields(view, request)
+
+        class SearchListView(generics.ListAPIView):
+            queryset = SearchFilterModel.objects.all()
+            serializer_class = SearchFilterSerializer
+            filter_backends = (CustomSearchFilter,)
+            search_fields = ('$title', '$text')
+
+        view = SearchListView.as_view()
+        request = factory.get('/', {'search': '^\w{3}$'})
+        response = view(request)
+        assert len(response.data) == 10
+
+        request = factory.get('/', {'search': '^\w{3}$', 'title_only': 'true'})
+        response = view(request)
+        assert response.data == [
+            {'id': 3, 'title': 'zzz', 'text': 'cde'}
+        ]
+
 
 class AttributeModel(models.Model):
     label = models.CharField(max_length=32)