diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index d097a9e98e..916eb1a861 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -155,6 +155,43 @@ You can also run them in parallel:
     tox -- -n auto tests/integ
 
 
+Building Sphinx docs
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Setup a Python environment with ``sphinx`` and ``sagemaker``:
+
+::
+
+    conda create -n sagemaker python=3.7
+    conda activate sagemaker
+    conda install sphinx==2.2.2
+    pip install sagemaker --user
+
+Install the Read The Docs theme:
+
+::
+
+    pip install sphinx_rtd_theme --user
+
+
+Clone/fork the repo, ``cd`` into the ``sagemaker-python-sdk/doc`` directory and run:
+
+::
+
+    make html
+
+You can edit the templates for any of the pages in the docs by editing the .rst files in the ``doc`` directory and then running ``make html`` again.
+
+Preview the site with a Python web server:
+
+::
+
+    cd _build/html
+    python -m http.server 8000
+
+View the website by visiting http://localhost:8000
+
+
 MXNet SageMaker Estimators
 --------------------------
 
diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index a60d919712..3e58480978 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 """Placeholder docstring"""
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
-import os
 import pkg_resources
 import sys
 from datetime import datetime
@@ -83,10 +82,8 @@ def __getattr__(cls, name):
 autodoc_default_flags = ["show-inheritance", "members", "undoc-members"]
 autodoc_member_order = "bysource"
 
-if "READTHEDOCS" in os.environ:
-    html_theme = "default"
-else:
-    html_theme = "haiku"
+html_theme = "sphinx_rtd_theme"
+
 html_static_path = []
 htmlhelp_basename = "%sdoc" % project