diff --git a/pulsar-client-cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/pulsar-client-cpp/CMakeLists.txt
index 20575f313049d..04a83a98dfe74 100644
--- a/pulsar-client-cpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/pulsar-client-cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ project (pulsar-cpp)
 
 set(Boost_NO_BOOST_CMAKE ON)
 
-set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-O3 -g -Wno-deprecated-declarations ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
+if (NOT CXX_STANDARD)
+    set(CXX_STANDARD "-std=c++11")
+endif(NOT CXX_STANDARD)
+
+set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-O3 -g -Wno-deprecated-declarations ${CXX_STANDARD} ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
 set(PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES $ENV{PROTOBUF_LIBRARIES})
 set(LOG_CATEGORY_NAME $ENV{LOG_CATEGORY_NAME})