diff --git a/docs/building-spark.md b/docs/building-spark.md
index 0086aeaaa4701..1d3e0b1b7d396 100644
--- a/docs/building-spark.md
+++ b/docs/building-spark.md
@@ -256,3 +256,19 @@ On Linux, this can be done by `sudo service docker start`.
 or
 
     ./build/sbt docker-integration-tests/test
+
+## Change Scala Version
+
+To build Spark using another supported Scala version, please change the major Scala version using (e.g. 2.12):
+
+    ./dev/change-scala-version.sh 2.12
+
+For Maven, please enable the profile (e.g. 2.12):
+
+    ./build/mvn -Pscala-2.12 compile
+
+For SBT, specify a complete scala version using (e.g. 2.12.6):
+
+    ./build/sbt -Dscala.version=2.12.6
+
+Otherwise, the sbt-pom-reader plugin will use the `scala.version` specified in the spark-parent pom.
diff --git a/project/SparkBuild.scala b/project/SparkBuild.scala
index 1f45a06084c0d..a5ed9088eaa4d 100644
--- a/project/SparkBuild.scala
+++ b/project/SparkBuild.scala
@@ -94,6 +94,12 @@ object SparkBuild extends PomBuild {
       case Some(v) =>
         v.split("(\\s+|,)").filterNot(_.isEmpty).map(_.trim.replaceAll("-P", "")).toSeq
     }
+
+    Option(System.getProperty("scala.version"))
+      .filter(_.startsWith("2.12"))
+      .foreach { versionString =>
+        System.setProperty("scala-2.12", "true")
+      }
     if (System.getProperty("scala-2.12") == "") {
       // To activate scala-2.10 profile, replace empty property value to non-empty value
       // in the same way as Maven which handles -Dname as -Dname=true before executes build process.
diff --git a/repl/pom.xml b/repl/pom.xml
index 861bbd7c49654..e8464a688336b 100644
--- a/repl/pom.xml
+++ b/repl/pom.xml
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@
 
   <properties>
     <sbt.project.name>repl</sbt.project.name>
-    <extra.source.dir>scala-2.11/src/main/scala</extra.source.dir>
-    <extra.testsource.dir>scala-2.11/src/test/scala</extra.testsource.dir>
+    <extra.source.dir>src/main/scala-${scala.binary.version}</extra.source.dir>
+    <extra.testsource.dir>src/test/scala-${scala.binary.version}</extra.testsource.dir>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
@@ -167,14 +167,4 @@
     </plugins>
   </build>
 
-  <profiles>
-    <profile>
-      <id>scala-2.12</id>
-      <properties>
-        <extra.source.dir>scala-2.12/src/main/scala</extra.source.dir>
-        <extra.testsource.dir>scala-2.12/src/test/scala</extra.testsource.dir>
-      </properties>
-    </profile>
-  </profiles>
-
 </project>
diff --git a/repl/scala-2.11/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkExprTyper.scala b/repl/src/main/scala-2.11/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkExprTyper.scala
similarity index 100%
rename from repl/scala-2.11/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkExprTyper.scala
rename to repl/src/main/scala-2.11/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkExprTyper.scala
diff --git a/repl/scala-2.11/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkILoopInterpreter.scala b/repl/src/main/scala-2.11/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkILoopInterpreter.scala
similarity index 100%
rename from repl/scala-2.11/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkILoopInterpreter.scala
rename to repl/src/main/scala-2.11/org/apache/spark/repl/SparkILoopInterpreter.scala