diff --git a/R/pkg/NAMESPACE b/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
index 00634c1a70c26..2cc1544bef080 100644
--- a/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
+++ b/R/pkg/NAMESPACE
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ exportMethods("arrange",
               "describe",
               "dim",
               "distinct",
+              "drop",
               "dropDuplicates",
               "dropna",
               "dtypes",
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
index 629c1ce2eddc1..4653a73e11be3 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
@@ -1192,23 +1192,10 @@ setMethod("$", signature(x = "DataFrame"),
 setMethod("$<-", signature(x = "DataFrame"),
           function(x, name, value) {
             stopifnot(class(value) == "Column" || is.null(value))
-            cols <- columns(x)
-            if (name %in% cols) {
-              if (is.null(value)) {
-                cols <- Filter(function(c) { c != name }, cols)
-              }
-              cols <- lapply(cols, function(c) {
-                if (c == name) {
-                  alias(value, name)
-                } else {
-                  col(c)
-                }
-              })
-              nx <- select(x, cols)
+
+            if (is.null(value)) {
+              nx <- drop(x, name)
             } else {
-              if (is.null(value)) {
-                return(x)
-              }
               nx <- withColumn(x, name, value)
             }
             x@sdf <- nx@sdf
@@ -1386,12 +1373,13 @@ setMethod("selectExpr",
 
 #' WithColumn
 #'
-#' Return a new DataFrame with the specified column added.
+#' Return a new DataFrame by adding a column or replacing the existing column
+#' that has the same name.
 #'
 #' @param x A DataFrame
-#' @param colName A string containing the name of the new column.
+#' @param colName A column name.
 #' @param col A Column expression.
-#' @return A DataFrame with the new column added.
+#' @return A DataFrame with the new column added or the existing column replaced.
 #' @family DataFrame functions
 #' @rdname withColumn
 #' @name withColumn
@@ -1404,12 +1392,16 @@ setMethod("selectExpr",
 #' path <- "path/to/file.json"
 #' df <- read.json(sqlContext, path)
 #' newDF <- withColumn(df, "newCol", df$col1 * 5)
+#' # Replace an existing column
+#' newDF2 <- withColumn(newDF, "newCol", newDF$col1)
 #' }
 setMethod("withColumn",
           signature(x = "DataFrame", colName = "character", col = "Column"),
           function(x, colName, col) {
-            select(x, x$"*", alias(col, colName))
+            sdf <- callJMethod(x@sdf, "withColumn", colName, col@jc)
+            dataFrame(sdf)
           })
+
 #' Mutate
 #'
 #' Return a new DataFrame with the specified columns added.
@@ -2401,4 +2393,47 @@ setMethod("str",
                 cat(paste0("\nDisplaying first ", ncol(localDF), " columns only."))
               }
             }
-          })
\ No newline at end of file
+          })
+
+#' drop
+#'
+#' Returns a new DataFrame with columns dropped.
+#' This is a no-op if schema doesn't contain column name(s).
+#' 
+#' @param x A SparkSQL DataFrame.
+#' @param cols A character vector of column names or a Column.
+#' @return A DataFrame
+#'
+#' @family DataFrame functions
+#' @rdname drop
+#' @name drop
+#' @export
+#' @examples
+#'\dontrun{
+#' sc <- sparkR.init()
+#' sqlCtx <- sparkRSQL.init(sc)
+#' path <- "path/to/file.json"
+#' df <- read.json(sqlCtx, path)
+#' drop(df, "col1")
+#' drop(df, c("col1", "col2"))
+#' drop(df, df$col1)
+#' }
+setMethod("drop",
+          signature(x = "DataFrame"),
+          function(x, col) {
+            stopifnot(class(col) == "character" || class(col) == "Column")
+
+            if (class(col) == "Column") {
+              sdf <- callJMethod(x@sdf, "drop", col@jc)
+            } else {
+              sdf <- callJMethod(x@sdf, "drop", as.list(col))
+            }
+            dataFrame(sdf)
+          })
+
+# Expose base::drop
+setMethod("drop",
+          signature(x = "ANY"),
+          function(x) {
+            base::drop(x)
+          })
diff --git a/R/pkg/R/generics.R b/R/pkg/R/generics.R
index d616266ead41b..9a8ab97bb8f9a 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/generics.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/generics.R
@@ -428,6 +428,10 @@ setGeneric("corr", function(x, ...) {standardGeneric("corr") })
 #' @export
 setGeneric("describe", function(x, col, ...) { standardGeneric("describe") })
 
+#' @rdname drop
+#' @export
+setGeneric("drop", function(x, ...) { standardGeneric("drop") })
+
 #' @rdname dropduplicates
 #' @export
 setGeneric("dropDuplicates",
diff --git a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_context.R b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_context.R
index 3b14a497b487a..ad3f9722a4802 100644
--- a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_context.R
+++ b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_context.R
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ test_that("Check masked functions", {
   maskedBySparkR <- masked[funcSparkROrEmpty]
   namesOfMasked <- c("describe", "cov", "filter", "lag", "na.omit", "predict", "sd", "var",
                      "colnames", "colnames<-", "intersect", "rank", "rbind", "sample", "subset",
-                     "summary", "transform")
+                     "summary", "transform", "drop")
   expect_equal(length(maskedBySparkR), length(namesOfMasked))
   expect_equal(sort(maskedBySparkR), sort(namesOfMasked))
   # above are those reported as masked when `library(SparkR)`
diff --git a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
index 14d40d5066e78..f9b8bd9940c84 100644
--- a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
+++ b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
@@ -824,11 +824,6 @@ test_that("select operators", {
   df$age2 <- df$age * 2
   expect_equal(columns(df), c("name", "age", "age2"))
   expect_equal(count(where(df, df$age2 == df$age * 2)), 2)
-
-  df$age2 <- NULL
-  expect_equal(columns(df), c("name", "age"))
-  df$age3 <- NULL
-  expect_equal(columns(df), c("name", "age"))
 })
 
 test_that("select with column", {
@@ -854,6 +849,27 @@ test_that("select with column", {
                 "To select multiple columns, use a character vector or list for col")
 })
 
+test_that("drop column", {
+  df <- select(read.json(sqlContext, jsonPath), "name", "age")
+  df1 <- drop(df, "name")
+  expect_equal(columns(df1), c("age"))
+
+  df$age2 <- df$age
+  df1 <- drop(df, c("name", "age"))
+  expect_equal(columns(df1), c("age2"))
+
+  df1 <- drop(df, df$age)
+  expect_equal(columns(df1), c("name", "age2"))
+
+  df$age2 <- NULL
+  expect_equal(columns(df), c("name", "age"))
+  df$age3 <- NULL
+  expect_equal(columns(df), c("name", "age"))
+
+  # Test to make sure base::drop is not masked
+  expect_equal(drop(1:3 %*% 2:4), 20)
+})
+
 test_that("subsetting", {
   # read.json returns columns in random order
   df <- select(read.json(sqlContext, jsonPath), "name", "age")
@@ -1462,6 +1478,11 @@ test_that("withColumn() and withColumnRenamed()", {
   expect_equal(columns(newDF)[3], "newAge")
   expect_equal(first(filter(newDF, df$name != "Michael"))$newAge, 32)
 
+  # Replace existing column
+  newDF <- withColumn(df, "age", df$age + 2)
+  expect_equal(length(columns(newDF)), 2)
+  expect_equal(first(filter(newDF, df$name != "Michael"))$age, 32)
+
   newDF2 <- withColumnRenamed(df, "age", "newerAge")
   expect_equal(length(columns(newDF2)), 2)
   expect_equal(columns(newDF2)[1], "newerAge")
diff --git a/docs/sql-programming-guide.md b/docs/sql-programming-guide.md
index bc89c781562bd..fddc51379406b 100644
--- a/docs/sql-programming-guide.md
+++ b/docs/sql-programming-guide.md
@@ -2150,6 +2150,8 @@ options.
      --conf spark.sql.hive.thriftServer.singleSession=true \
      ...
    {% endhighlight %}
+ - Since 1.6.1, withColumn method in sparkR supports adding a new column to or replacing existing columns
+   of the same name of a DataFrame.
 
  - From Spark 1.6, LongType casts to TimestampType expect seconds instead of microseconds. This
    change was made to match the behavior of Hive 1.2 for more consistent type casting to TimestampType
@@ -2183,6 +2185,7 @@ options.
    users can use `REFRESH TABLE` SQL command or `HiveContext`'s `refreshTable` method
    to include those new files to the table. For a DataFrame representing a JSON dataset, users need to recreate
    the DataFrame and the new DataFrame will include new files.
+ - DataFrame.withColumn method in pySpark supports adding a new column or replacing existing columns of the same name.
 
 ## Upgrading from Spark SQL 1.3 to 1.4
 
@@ -2262,6 +2265,16 @@ sqlContext.setConf("spark.sql.retainGroupColumns", "false")
 </div>
 
 
+#### Behavior change on DataFrame.withColumn
+
+Prior to 1.4, DataFrame.withColumn() supports adding a column only. The column will always be added
+as a new column with its specified name in the result DataFrame even if there may be any existing
+columns of the same name. Since 1.4, DataFrame.withColumn() supports adding a column of a different
+name from names of all existing columns or replacing existing columns of the same name.
+
+Note that this change is only for Scala API, not for PySpark and SparkR.
+
+
 ## Upgrading from Spark SQL 1.0-1.2 to 1.3
 
 In Spark 1.3 we removed the "Alpha" label from Spark SQL and as part of this did a cleanup of the