diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst
index 9fc094330fb36..b6d5fc0f35bc3 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v1.2.0.rst
@@ -96,6 +96,32 @@ For example:
    buffer = io.BytesIO()
    data.to_csv(buffer, mode="w+b", encoding="utf-8", compression="gzip")
 
+Support for short caption and table position in ``to_latex``
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+:meth:`DataFrame.to_latex` now allows one to specify
+a floating table position (:issue:`35281`)
+and a short caption (:issue:`36267`).
+
+New keyword ``position`` is implemented to set the position.
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+   data = pd.DataFrame({'a': [1, 2], 'b': [3, 4]})
+   table = data.to_latex(position='ht')
+   print(table)
+
+Usage of keyword ``caption`` is extended.
+Besides taking a single string as an argument,
+one can optionally provide a tuple of ``(full_caption, short_caption)``
+to add a short caption macro.
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+   data = pd.DataFrame({'a': [1, 2], 'b': [3, 4]})
+   table = data.to_latex(caption=('the full long caption', 'short caption'))
+   print(table)
+
 .. _whatsnew_120.read_csv_table_precision_default:
 
 Change in default floating precision for ``read_csv`` and ``read_table``
diff --git a/pandas/core/generic.py b/pandas/core/generic.py
index 784e8877ef128..77be48ef29df8 100644
--- a/pandas/core/generic.py
+++ b/pandas/core/generic.py
@@ -3013,6 +3013,9 @@ def to_latex(
         .. versionchanged:: 1.0.0
            Added caption and label arguments.
 
+        .. versionchanged:: 1.2.0
+           Added position argument, changed meaning of caption argument.
+
         Parameters
         ----------
         buf : str, Path or StringIO-like, optional, default None
@@ -3074,11 +3077,16 @@ def to_latex(
             centered labels (instead of top-aligned) across the contained
             rows, separating groups via clines. The default will be read
             from the pandas config module.
-        caption : str, optional
-            The LaTeX caption to be placed inside ``\caption{{}}`` in the output.
+        caption : str or tuple, optional
+            Tuple (full_caption, short_caption),
+            which results in ``\caption[short_caption]{{full_caption}}``;
+            if a single string is passed, no short caption will be set.
 
             .. versionadded:: 1.0.0
 
+            .. versionchanged:: 1.2.0
+               Optionally allow caption to be a tuple ``(full_caption, short_caption)``.
+
         label : str, optional
             The LaTeX label to be placed inside ``\label{{}}`` in the output.
             This is used with ``\ref{{}}`` in the main ``.tex`` file.
@@ -3087,6 +3095,8 @@ def to_latex(
         position : str, optional
             The LaTeX positional argument for tables, to be placed after
             ``\begin{{}}`` in the output.
+
+            .. versionadded:: 1.2.0
         {returns}
         See Also
         --------
@@ -3097,8 +3107,8 @@ def to_latex(
         Examples
         --------
         >>> df = pd.DataFrame(dict(name=['Raphael', 'Donatello'],
-        ...                    mask=['red', 'purple'],
-        ...                    weapon=['sai', 'bo staff']))
+        ...                   mask=['red', 'purple'],
+        ...                   weapon=['sai', 'bo staff']))
         >>> print(df.to_latex(index=False))  # doctest: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE
         \begin{{tabular}}{{lll}}
          \toprule
diff --git a/pandas/io/formats/format.py b/pandas/io/formats/format.py
index dcd91b3a12294..7635cda56ba26 100644
--- a/pandas/io/formats/format.py
+++ b/pandas/io/formats/format.py
@@ -1021,7 +1021,7 @@ def to_latex(
         multicolumn: bool = False,
         multicolumn_format: Optional[str] = None,
         multirow: bool = False,
-        caption: Optional[str] = None,
+        caption: Optional[Union[str, Tuple[str, str]]] = None,
         label: Optional[str] = None,
         position: Optional[str] = None,
     ) -> Optional[str]:
diff --git a/pandas/io/formats/latex.py b/pandas/io/formats/latex.py
index 170df193bef00..2eee0ce73291f 100644
--- a/pandas/io/formats/latex.py
+++ b/pandas/io/formats/latex.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Module for formatting output data in Latex.
 """
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from typing import IO, Iterator, List, Optional, Type
+from typing import IO, Iterator, List, Optional, Tuple, Type, Union
 
 import numpy as np
 
@@ -11,6 +11,39 @@
 from pandas.io.formats.format import DataFrameFormatter, TableFormatter
 
 
+def _split_into_full_short_caption(
+    caption: Optional[Union[str, Tuple[str, str]]]
+) -> Tuple[str, str]:
+    """Extract full and short captions from caption string/tuple.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    caption : str or tuple, optional
+        Either table caption string or tuple (full_caption, short_caption).
+        If string is provided, then it is treated as table full caption,
+        while short_caption is considered an empty string.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    full_caption, short_caption : tuple
+        Tuple of full_caption, short_caption strings.
+    """
+    if caption:
+        if isinstance(caption, str):
+            full_caption = caption
+            short_caption = ""
+        else:
+            try:
+                full_caption, short_caption = caption
+            except ValueError as err:
+                msg = "caption must be either a string or a tuple of two strings"
+                raise ValueError(msg) from err
+    else:
+        full_caption = ""
+        short_caption = ""
+    return full_caption, short_caption
+
+
 class RowStringConverter(ABC):
     r"""Converter for dataframe rows into LaTeX strings.
 
@@ -275,6 +308,8 @@ class TableBuilderAbstract(ABC):
         Use multirow to enhance MultiIndex rows.
     caption: str, optional
         Table caption.
+    short_caption: str, optional
+        Table short caption.
     label: str, optional
         LaTeX label.
     position: str, optional
@@ -289,6 +324,7 @@ def __init__(
         multicolumn_format: Optional[str] = None,
         multirow: bool = False,
         caption: Optional[str] = None,
+        short_caption: Optional[str] = None,
         label: Optional[str] = None,
         position: Optional[str] = None,
     ):
@@ -298,6 +334,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.multicolumn_format = multicolumn_format
         self.multirow = multirow
         self.caption = caption
+        self.short_caption = short_caption
         self.label = label
         self.position = position
 
@@ -384,8 +421,23 @@ def _position_macro(self) -> str:
 
     @property
     def _caption_macro(self) -> str:
-        r"""Caption macro, extracted from self.caption, like \caption{cap}."""
-        return f"\\caption{{{self.caption}}}" if self.caption else ""
+        r"""Caption macro, extracted from self.caption.
+
+        With short caption:
+            \caption[short_caption]{caption_string}.
+
+        Without short caption:
+            \caption{caption_string}.
+        """
+        if self.caption:
+            return "".join(
+                [
+                    r"\caption",
+                    f"[{self.short_caption}]" if self.short_caption else "",
+                    f"{{{self.caption}}}",
+                ]
+            )
+        return ""
 
     @property
     def _label_macro(self) -> str:
@@ -596,15 +648,32 @@ def env_end(self) -> str:
 
 
 class LatexFormatter(TableFormatter):
-    """
+    r"""
     Used to render a DataFrame to a LaTeX tabular/longtable environment output.
 
     Parameters
     ----------
     formatter : `DataFrameFormatter`
+    longtable : bool, default False
+        Use longtable environment.
     column_format : str, default None
         The columns format as specified in `LaTeX table format
         <https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Tables>`__ e.g 'rcl' for 3 columns
+    multicolumn : bool, default False
+        Use \multicolumn to enhance MultiIndex columns.
+    multicolumn_format : str, default 'l'
+        The alignment for multicolumns, similar to `column_format`
+    multirow : bool, default False
+        Use \multirow to enhance MultiIndex rows.
+    caption : str or tuple, optional
+        Tuple (full_caption, short_caption),
+        which results in \caption[short_caption]{full_caption};
+        if a single string is passed, no short caption will be set.
+    label : str, optional
+        The LaTeX label to be placed inside ``\label{}`` in the output.
+    position : str, optional
+        The LaTeX positional argument for tables, to be placed after
+        ``\begin{}`` in the output.
 
     See Also
     --------
@@ -619,18 +688,18 @@ def __init__(
         multicolumn: bool = False,
         multicolumn_format: Optional[str] = None,
         multirow: bool = False,
-        caption: Optional[str] = None,
+        caption: Optional[Union[str, Tuple[str, str]]] = None,
         label: Optional[str] = None,
         position: Optional[str] = None,
     ):
         self.fmt = formatter
         self.frame = self.fmt.frame
         self.longtable = longtable
-        self.column_format = column_format  # type: ignore[assignment]
+        self.column_format = column_format
         self.multicolumn = multicolumn
         self.multicolumn_format = multicolumn_format
         self.multirow = multirow
-        self.caption = caption
+        self.caption, self.short_caption = _split_into_full_short_caption(caption)
         self.label = label
         self.position = position
 
@@ -658,6 +727,7 @@ def builder(self) -> TableBuilderAbstract:
             multicolumn_format=self.multicolumn_format,
             multirow=self.multirow,
             caption=self.caption,
+            short_caption=self.short_caption,
             label=self.label,
             position=self.position,
         )
@@ -671,7 +741,7 @@ def _select_builder(self) -> Type[TableBuilderAbstract]:
         return TabularBuilder
 
     @property
-    def column_format(self) -> str:
+    def column_format(self) -> Optional[str]:
         """Column format."""
         return self._column_format
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/formats/test_to_latex.py b/pandas/tests/io/formats/test_to_latex.py
index d3d865158309c..908fdea2f73d0 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/formats/test_to_latex.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/formats/test_to_latex.py
@@ -414,6 +414,11 @@ def caption_table(self):
         """Caption for table/tabular LaTeX environment."""
         return "a table in a \\texttt{table/tabular} environment"
 
+    @pytest.fixture
+    def short_caption(self):
+        """Short caption for testing \\caption[short_caption]{full_caption}."""
+        return "a table"
+
     @pytest.fixture
     def label_table(self):
         """Label for table/tabular LaTeX environment."""
@@ -493,6 +498,107 @@ def test_to_latex_caption_and_label(self, df_short, caption_table, label_table):
         )
         assert result == expected
 
+    def test_to_latex_caption_and_shortcaption(
+        self,
+        df_short,
+        caption_table,
+        short_caption,
+    ):
+        result = df_short.to_latex(caption=(caption_table, short_caption))
+        expected = _dedent(
+            r"""
+            \begin{table}
+            \centering
+            \caption[a table]{a table in a \texttt{table/tabular} environment}
+            \begin{tabular}{lrl}
+            \toprule
+            {} &  a &   b \\
+            \midrule
+            0 &  1 &  b1 \\
+            1 &  2 &  b2 \\
+            \bottomrule
+            \end{tabular}
+            \end{table}
+            """
+        )
+        assert result == expected
+
+    def test_to_latex_caption_and_shortcaption_list_is_ok(self, df_short):
+        caption = ("Long-long-caption", "Short")
+        result_tuple = df_short.to_latex(caption=caption)
+        result_list = df_short.to_latex(caption=list(caption))
+        assert result_tuple == result_list
+
+    def test_to_latex_caption_shortcaption_and_label(
+        self,
+        df_short,
+        caption_table,
+        short_caption,
+        label_table,
+    ):
+        # test when the short_caption is provided alongside caption and label
+        result = df_short.to_latex(
+            caption=(caption_table, short_caption),
+            label=label_table,
+        )
+        expected = _dedent(
+            r"""
+            \begin{table}
+            \centering
+            \caption[a table]{a table in a \texttt{table/tabular} environment}
+            \label{tab:table_tabular}
+            \begin{tabular}{lrl}
+            \toprule
+            {} &  a &   b \\
+            \midrule
+            0 &  1 &  b1 \\
+            1 &  2 &  b2 \\
+            \bottomrule
+            \end{tabular}
+            \end{table}
+            """
+        )
+        assert result == expected
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        "bad_caption",
+        [
+            ("full_caption", "short_caption", "extra_string"),
+            ("full_caption", "short_caption", 1),
+            ("full_caption", "short_caption", None),
+            ("full_caption",),
+            (None,),
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_to_latex_bad_caption_raises(self, bad_caption):
+        # test that wrong number of params is raised
+        df = pd.DataFrame({"a": [1]})
+        msg = "caption must be either a string or a tuple of two strings"
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=msg):
+            df.to_latex(caption=bad_caption)
+
+    def test_to_latex_two_chars_caption(self, df_short):
+        # test that two chars caption is handled correctly
+        # it must not be unpacked into long_caption, short_caption.
+        result = df_short.to_latex(caption="xy")
+        expected = _dedent(
+            r"""
+            \begin{table}
+            \centering
+            \caption{xy}
+            \begin{tabular}{lrl}
+            \toprule
+            {} &  a &   b \\
+            \midrule
+            0 &  1 &  b1 \\
+            1 &  2 &  b2 \\
+            \bottomrule
+            \end{tabular}
+            \end{table}
+            """
+        )
+        assert result == expected
+
     def test_to_latex_longtable_caption_only(self, df_short, caption_longtable):
         # GH 25436
         # test when no caption and no label is provided
@@ -595,6 +701,47 @@ def test_to_latex_longtable_caption_and_label(
         )
         assert result == expected
 
+    def test_to_latex_longtable_caption_shortcaption_and_label(
+        self,
+        df_short,
+        caption_longtable,
+        short_caption,
+        label_longtable,
+    ):
+        # test when the caption, the short_caption and the label are provided
+        result = df_short.to_latex(
+            longtable=True,
+            caption=(caption_longtable, short_caption),
+            label=label_longtable,
+        )
+        expected = _dedent(
+            r"""
+            \begin{longtable}{lrl}
+            \caption[a table]{a table in a \texttt{longtable} environment}
+            \label{tab:longtable}\\
+            \toprule
+            {} &  a &   b \\
+            \midrule
+            \endfirsthead
+            \caption[]{a table in a \texttt{longtable} environment} \\
+            \toprule
+            {} &  a &   b \\
+            \midrule
+            \endhead
+            \midrule
+            \multicolumn{3}{r}{{Continued on next page}} \\
+            \midrule
+            \endfoot
+
+            \bottomrule
+            \endlastfoot
+            0 &  1 &  b1 \\
+            1 &  2 &  b2 \\
+            \end{longtable}
+            """
+        )
+        assert result == expected
+
 
 class TestToLatexEscape:
     @pytest.fixture