diff --git a/docs/Parameters.rst b/docs/Parameters.rst
index 41d6ef6cc62e..258a63608d49 100644
--- a/docs/Parameters.rst
+++ b/docs/Parameters.rst
@@ -229,6 +229,8 @@ Core Parameters
 
    -  **Note**: setting this to ``true`` may slow down the training
 
+   -  **Note**: to avoid potential instability due to numerical issues, please set ``force_col_wise=true`` or ``force_row_wise=true`` when setting ``deterministic=true``
+
 Learning Control Parameters
 ---------------------------
 
diff --git a/include/LightGBM/config.h b/include/LightGBM/config.h
index 559b52bd6559..66fe7319141d 100644
--- a/include/LightGBM/config.h
+++ b/include/LightGBM/config.h
@@ -236,6 +236,7 @@ struct Config {
   // desc = when you use the different seeds, different LightGBM versions, the binaries compiled by different compilers, or in different systems, the results are expected to be different
   // desc = you can `raise issues <https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM/issues>`__ in LightGBM GitHub repo when you meet the unstable results
   // desc = **Note**: setting this to ``true`` may slow down the training
+  // desc = **Note**: to avoid potential instability due to numerical issues, please set ``force_col_wise=true`` or ``force_row_wise=true`` when setting ``deterministic=true``
   bool deterministic = false;
 
   #pragma endregion