diff --git a/dev/make-distribution.sh b/dev/make-distribution.sh
index 16fbb71be429..8ba93aa56f00 100755
--- a/dev/make-distribution.sh
+++ b/dev/make-distribution.sh
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ if [ "$MAKE_PIP" == "true" ]; then
   pushd "$SPARK_HOME/python" > /dev/null
   # Delete the egg info file if it exists, this can cache older setup files.
   rm -rf pyspark.egg-info || echo "No existing egg info file, skipping deletion"
-  python setup.py sdist
+  python3 setup.py sdist
   popd > /dev/null
 else
   echo "Skipping building python distribution package"
diff --git a/docs/building-spark.md b/docs/building-spark.md
index 898f904461a6..891d6225bbdd 100644
--- a/docs/building-spark.md
+++ b/docs/building-spark.md
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ with Maven profile settings and so on like the direct Maven build. Example:
 
     ./dev/make-distribution.sh --name custom-spark --pip --r --tgz -Psparkr -Phive -Phive-thriftserver -Pmesos -Pyarn -Pkubernetes
 
-This will build Spark distribution along with Python pip and R packages. For more information on usage, run `./dev/make-distribution.sh --help`
+This will build Spark distribution along with Python pip and R packages. (Note that build with Python pip package requires Python 3.6). For more information on usage, run `./dev/make-distribution.sh --help`
 
 ## Specifying the Hadoop Version and Enabling YARN