diff --git a/python/pyspark/ml/evaluation.py b/python/pyspark/ml/evaluation.py
index 6b0a9ffde9f42..cb3b07947e488 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/ml/evaluation.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/ml/evaluation.py
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ def evaluate(self, dataset, params=None):
         else:
             raise ValueError("Params must be a param map but got %s." % type(params))
 
+    def isLargerBetter(self):
+        """
+        Indicates whether the metric returned by :py:meth:`evaluate` should be maximized
+        (True, default) or minimized (False).
+        A given evaluator may support multiple metrics which may be maximized or minimized.
+        """
+        return True
+
 
 @inherit_doc
 class JavaEvaluator(Evaluator, JavaWrapper):
@@ -85,6 +93,10 @@ def _evaluate(self, dataset):
         self._transfer_params_to_java()
         return self._java_obj.evaluate(dataset._jdf)
 
+    def isLargerBetter(self):
+        self._transfer_params_to_java()
+        return self._java_obj.isLargerBetter()
+
 
 @inherit_doc
 class BinaryClassificationEvaluator(JavaEvaluator, HasLabelCol, HasRawPredictionCol):
diff --git a/python/pyspark/ml/tests.py b/python/pyspark/ml/tests.py
index c151d21fd661a..60e4237293adc 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/ml/tests.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/ml/tests.py
@@ -32,11 +32,14 @@
 
 from pyspark.tests import ReusedPySparkTestCase as PySparkTestCase
 from pyspark.sql import DataFrame, SQLContext
+from pyspark.sql.functions import rand
+from pyspark.ml.evaluation import RegressionEvaluator
 from pyspark.ml.param import Param, Params
 from pyspark.ml.param.shared import HasMaxIter, HasInputCol, HasSeed
 from pyspark.ml.util import keyword_only
 from pyspark.ml import Estimator, Model, Pipeline, Transformer
 from pyspark.ml.feature import *
+from pyspark.ml.tuning import ParamGridBuilder, CrossValidator, CrossValidatorModel
 from pyspark.mllib.linalg import DenseVector
 
 
@@ -264,5 +267,89 @@ def test_ngram(self):
         self.assertEquals(transformedDF.head().output, ["a b c d", "b c d e"])
 
 
+class HasInducedError(Params):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super(HasInducedError, self).__init__()
+        self.inducedError = Param(self, "inducedError",
+                                  "Uniformly-distributed error added to feature")
+
+    def getInducedError(self):
+        return self.getOrDefault(self.inducedError)
+
+
+class InducedErrorModel(Model, HasInducedError):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super(InducedErrorModel, self).__init__()
+
+    def _transform(self, dataset):
+        return dataset.withColumn("prediction",
+                                  dataset.feature + (rand(0) * self.getInducedError()))
+
+
+class InducedErrorEstimator(Estimator, HasInducedError):
+
+    def __init__(self, inducedError=1.0):
+        super(InducedErrorEstimator, self).__init__()
+        self._set(inducedError=inducedError)
+
+    def _fit(self, dataset):
+        model = InducedErrorModel()
+        self._copyValues(model)
+        return model
+
+
+class CrossValidatorTests(PySparkTestCase):
+
+    def test_fit_minimize_metric(self):
+        sqlContext = SQLContext(self.sc)
+        dataset = sqlContext.createDataFrame([
+            (10, 10.0),
+            (50, 50.0),
+            (100, 100.0),
+            (500, 500.0)] * 10,
+            ["feature", "label"])
+
+        iee = InducedErrorEstimator()
+        evaluator = RegressionEvaluator(metricName="rmse")
+
+        grid = (ParamGridBuilder()
+                .addGrid(iee.inducedError, [100.0, 0.0, 10000.0])
+                .build())
+        cv = CrossValidator(estimator=iee, estimatorParamMaps=grid, evaluator=evaluator)
+        cvModel = cv.fit(dataset)
+        bestModel = cvModel.bestModel
+        bestModelMetric = evaluator.evaluate(bestModel.transform(dataset))
+
+        self.assertEqual(0.0, bestModel.getOrDefault('inducedError'),
+                         "Best model should have zero induced error")
+        self.assertEqual(0.0, bestModelMetric, "Best model has RMSE of 0")
+
+    def test_fit_maximize_metric(self):
+        sqlContext = SQLContext(self.sc)
+        dataset = sqlContext.createDataFrame([
+            (10, 10.0),
+            (50, 50.0),
+            (100, 100.0),
+            (500, 500.0)] * 10,
+            ["feature", "label"])
+
+        iee = InducedErrorEstimator()
+        evaluator = RegressionEvaluator(metricName="r2")
+
+        grid = (ParamGridBuilder()
+                .addGrid(iee.inducedError, [100.0, 0.0, 10000.0])
+                .build())
+        cv = CrossValidator(estimator=iee, estimatorParamMaps=grid, evaluator=evaluator)
+        cvModel = cv.fit(dataset)
+        bestModel = cvModel.bestModel
+        bestModelMetric = evaluator.evaluate(bestModel.transform(dataset))
+
+        self.assertEqual(0.0, bestModel.getOrDefault('inducedError'),
+                         "Best model should have zero induced error")
+        self.assertEqual(1.0, bestModelMetric, "Best model has R-squared of 1")
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/python/pyspark/ml/tuning.py b/python/pyspark/ml/tuning.py
index dcfee6a3170ab..cae778869e9c5 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/ml/tuning.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/ml/tuning.py
@@ -223,7 +223,11 @@ def _fit(self, dataset):
                 # TODO: duplicate evaluator to take extra params from input
                 metric = eva.evaluate(model.transform(validation, epm[j]))
                 metrics[j] += metric
-        bestIndex = np.argmax(metrics)
+
+        if eva.isLargerBetter():
+            bestIndex = np.argmax(metrics)
+        else:
+            bestIndex = np.argmin(metrics)
         bestModel = est.fit(dataset, epm[bestIndex])
         return CrossValidatorModel(bestModel)