diff --git a/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r18_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py b/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r18_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py
index 790355fc..29fa5d6d 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r18_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r18_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=16,
     workers_per_gpu=8,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r50dcnv2_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py b/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r50dcnv2_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py
index f1ccec51..f3250e79 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r50dcnv2_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/dbnet/dbnet_r50dcnv2_fpnc_1200e_icdar2015.py
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/drrg/drrg_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py b/configs/textdet/drrg/drrg_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py
index f59f049c..378d37e1 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/drrg/drrg_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/drrg/drrg_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=4,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=f'{data_root}/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50_fpn_1500e_icdar2015.py b/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50_fpn_1500e_icdar2015.py
index 2b4fd6d1..03ccd0ca 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50_fpn_1500e_icdar2015.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50_fpn_1500e_icdar2015.py
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50dcnv2_fpn_1500e_ctw1500.py b/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50dcnv2_fpn_1500e_ctw1500.py
index 5c5e048d..3cdc7a72 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50dcnv2_fpn_1500e_ctw1500.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/fcenet/fcenet_r50dcnv2_fpn_1500e_ctw1500.py
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=6,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_ctw1500.py b/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_ctw1500.py
index d821bb7f..d8841c90 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_ctw1500.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_ctw1500.py
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2015.py b/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2015.py
index e2d8be68..52fce0af 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2015.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2015.py
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2017.py b/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2017.py
index 8b948e09..8fdb3f1c 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2017.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/maskrcnn/mask_rcnn_r50_fpn_160e_icdar2017.py
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_ctw1500.py b/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_ctw1500.py
index 58d1d22b..a1bfb629 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_ctw1500.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_ctw1500.py
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=2,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2015.py b/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2015.py
index de12c26c..e5681c6a 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2015.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r18_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2015.py
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r50_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2017.py b/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r50_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2017.py
index 933f0bae..4b41851f 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r50_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2017.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/panet/panet_r50_fpem_ffm_600e_icdar2017.py
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=4,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_ctw1500.py b/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_ctw1500.py
index e1f5fd04..8be704ce 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_ctw1500.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_ctw1500.py
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=2,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2015.py b/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2015.py
index 5eb7538c..d20ec29e 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2015.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2015.py
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2017.py b/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2017.py
index 3c20c4cc..19c5aea0 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2017.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/psenet/psenet_r50_fpnf_600e_icdar2017.py
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=8,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=data_root + '/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textdet/textsnake/textsnake_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py b/configs/textdet/textsnake/textsnake_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py
index e710835d..b7dba589 100644
--- a/configs/textdet/textsnake/textsnake_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py
+++ b/configs/textdet/textsnake/textsnake_r50_fpn_unet_1200e_ctw1500.py
@@ -94,6 +94,8 @@ test_pipeline = [
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=4,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type=dataset_type,
         ann_file=f'{data_root}/instances_training.json',
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/crnn/crnn_academic_dataset.py b/configs/textrecog/crnn/crnn_academic_dataset.py
index 748625e4..1875f69f 100644
--- a/configs/textrecog/crnn/crnn_academic_dataset.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/crnn/crnn_academic_dataset.py
@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ test6['ann_file'] = test_ann_file6
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=64,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[train1]),
     val=dict(
         type='ConcatDataset',
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by16_1by8_academic.py b/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by16_1by8_academic.py
index 9299583b..92398b93 100644
--- a/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by16_1by8_academic.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by16_1by8_academic.py
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ test6['ann_file'] = test_ann_file6
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=128,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[train1, train2]),
     val=dict(
         type='ConcatDataset',
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by8_1by4_academic.py b/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by8_1by4_academic.py
index b003b823..121a9f56 100644
--- a/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by8_1by4_academic.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/nrtr/nrtr_r31_1by8_1by4_academic.py
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ test6['ann_file'] = test_ann_file6
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=128,
     workers_per_gpu=4,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[train1, train2]),
     val=dict(
         type='ConcatDataset',
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/robust_scanner/robustscanner_r31_academic.py b/configs/textrecog/robust_scanner/robustscanner_r31_academic.py
index e90dd75d..7c1b8636 100644
--- a/configs/textrecog/robust_scanner/robustscanner_r31_academic.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/robust_scanner/robustscanner_r31_academic.py
@@ -182,6 +182,8 @@ test6['ann_file'] = test_ann_file6
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=64,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type='ConcatDataset',
         datasets=[
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_academic.py b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_academic.py
index 4e405227..f00ab0cc 100644
--- a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_academic.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_academic.py
@@ -204,6 +204,8 @@ test6['ann_file'] = test_ann_file6
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=64,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type='ConcatDataset',
         datasets=[
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_chinese.py b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_chinese.py
index 90e7a0de..5e58bbd7 100644
--- a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_chinese.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_chinese.py
@@ -119,6 +119,8 @@ test = dict(
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=40,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[train]),
     val=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[test]),
     test=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[test]))
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_toy_dataset.py b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_toy_dataset.py
index 70c08464..75cd15e7 100755
--- a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_toy_dataset.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_toy_dataset.py
@@ -30,24 +30,19 @@ train_pipeline = [
 test_pipeline = [
     dict(type='LoadImageFromFile'),
     dict(
-        type='MultiRotateAugOCR',
-        rotate_degrees=[0, 90, 270],
-        transforms=[
-            dict(
-                type='ResizeOCR',
-                height=48,
-                min_width=48,
-                max_width=160,
-                keep_aspect_ratio=True),
-            dict(type='ToTensorOCR'),
-            dict(type='NormalizeOCR', **img_norm_cfg),
-            dict(
-                type='Collect',
-                keys=['img'],
-                meta_keys=[
-                    'filename', 'ori_shape', 'img_shape', 'valid_ratio',
-                    'img_norm_cfg', 'ori_filename'
-                ]),
+        type='ResizeOCR',
+        height=48,
+        min_width=48,
+        max_width=160,
+        keep_aspect_ratio=True),
+    dict(type='ToTensorOCR'),
+    dict(type='NormalizeOCR', **img_norm_cfg),
+    dict(
+        type='Collect',
+        keys=['img'],
+        meta_keys=[
+            'filename', 'ori_shape', 'img_shape', 'valid_ratio',
+            'img_norm_cfg', 'ori_filename'
         ])
 ]
 
@@ -66,7 +61,7 @@ train1 = dict(
             keys=['filename', 'text'],
             keys_idx=[0, 1],
             separator=' ')),
-    pipeline=train_pipeline,
+    pipeline=None,
     test_mode=False)
 
 train_anno_file2 = 'tests/data/ocr_toy_dataset/label.lmdb'
@@ -82,7 +77,7 @@ train2 = dict(
             keys=['filename', 'text'],
             keys_idx=[0, 1],
             separator=' ')),
-    pipeline=train_pipeline,
+    pipeline=None,
     test_mode=False)
 
 test_anno_file1 = 'tests/data/ocr_toy_dataset/label.lmdb'
@@ -92,20 +87,25 @@ test = dict(
     ann_file=test_anno_file1,
     loader=dict(
         type='LmdbLoader',
-        repeat=1,
+        repeat=10,
         parser=dict(
             type='LineStrParser',
             keys=['filename', 'text'],
             keys_idx=[0, 1],
             separator=' ')),
-    pipeline=test_pipeline,
+    pipeline=None,
     test_mode=True)
 
 data = dict(
-    samples_per_gpu=16,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
-    train=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[train1, train2]),
-    val=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[test]),
-    test=dict(type='ConcatDataset', datasets=[test]))
+    samples_per_gpu=8,
+    train=dict(
+        type='UniformConcatDataset',
+        datasets=[train1, train2],
+        pipeline=train_pipeline),
+    val=dict(
+        type='UniformConcatDataset', datasets=[test], pipeline=test_pipeline),
+    test=dict(
+        type='UniformConcatDataset', datasets=[test], pipeline=test_pipeline))
 
 evaluation = dict(interval=1, metric='acc')
diff --git a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_sequential_decoder_academic.py b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_sequential_decoder_academic.py
index 6fa00dd7..5c468625 100644
--- a/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_sequential_decoder_academic.py
+++ b/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_sequential_decoder_academic.py
@@ -204,6 +204,8 @@ test6['ann_file'] = test_ann_file6
 data = dict(
     samples_per_gpu=64,
     workers_per_gpu=2,
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=1),
     train=dict(
         type='ConcatDataset',
         datasets=[
diff --git a/docs/getting_started.md b/docs/getting_started.md
index 40578e1d..fbab8553 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started.md
+++ b/docs/getting_started.md
@@ -202,7 +202,12 @@ To support the tasks of `text detection`, `text recognition` and `key informatio
 
 Here we show some examples of using different combination of `loader` and `parser`.
 
-#### Encoder-Decoder-Based Text Recognition Task
+#### Text Recognition Task
+
+##### OCRDataset
+
+<small>*Dataset for encoder-decoder based recognizer*</small>
+
 ```python
 dataset_type = 'OCRDataset'
 img_prefix = 'tests/data/ocr_toy_dataset/imgs'
@@ -225,7 +230,7 @@ train = dict(
 You can check the content of the annotation file in `tests/data/ocr_toy_dataset/label.txt`.
 The combination of `HardDiskLoader` and `LineStrParser` will return a dict for each file by calling `__getitem__`: `{'filename': '1223731.jpg', 'text': 'GRAND'}`.
 
-##### Optional Arguments:
+**Optional Arguments:**
 
 - `repeat`: The number of repeated lines in the annotation files. For example, if there are `10` lines in the annotation file, setting `repeat=10` will generate a corresponding annotation file with size `100`.
 
@@ -254,7 +259,10 @@ train = dict(
     test_mode=False)
 ```
 
-#### Segmentation-Based Text Recognition Task
+##### OCRSegDataset
+
+<small>*Dataset for segmentation-based recognizer*</small>
+
 ```python
 prefix = 'tests/data/ocr_char_ann_toy_dataset/'
 train = dict(
@@ -277,6 +285,11 @@ The combination of `HardDiskLoader` and `LineJsonParser` will return a dict for
 ```
 
 #### Text Detection Task
+
+##### TextDetDataset
+
+<small>*Dataset with annotation file in line-json txt format*</small>
+
 ```python
 dataset_type = 'TextDetDataset'
 img_prefix = 'tests/data/toy_dataset/imgs'
@@ -302,7 +315,10 @@ The combination of `HardDiskLoader` and `LineJsonParser` will return a dict for
 ```
 
 
-### COCO-like Dataset
+##### IcdarDataset
+
+<small>*Dataset with annotation file in coco-like json format*</small>
+
 For text detection, you can also use an annotation file in a COCO format that is defined in [mmdet](https://github.com/open-mmlab/mmdetection/blob/master/mmdet/datasets/coco.py):
 ```python
 dataset_type = 'IcdarDataset'
@@ -325,4 +341,40 @@ You can check the content of the annotation file in `tests/data/toy_dataset/inst
   ```shell
   python tools/data_converter/ctw1500_converter.py ${src_root_path} -o ${out_path} --split-list training test
   ```
+
+#### UniformConcatDataset
+
+To use the `universal pipeline` for multiple datasets, we design `UniformConcatDataset`.
+For example, apply `train_pipeline` for both `train1` and `train2`,
+
+```python
+data = dict(
+    ...
+    train=dict(
+        type='UniformConcatDataset',
+        datasets=[train1, train2],
+        pipeline=train_pipeline))
 ```
+
+Meanwhile, we have
+- train_dataloader
+- val_dataloader
+- test_dataloader
+
+to give specific settings. They will override the general settings in `data` dict.
+For example,
+
+```python
+data = dict(
+    workers_per_gpu=2,                                          # global setting
+    train_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=8, drop_last=True),   # train-specific setting
+    val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=8, workers_per_gpu=1),  # val-specific setting
+    test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=8),                    # test-specific setting
+    ...
+```
+`workers_per_gpu` is global setting and `train_dataloader` and `val_dataloader` will inherit the values.
+`val_dataloader` override the value by `workers_per_gpu=1`.
+
+To activate `batch inference` for `val` and `test`, please set `val_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=8)` and `test_dataloader=dict(samples_per_gpu=8)` as above.
+Or just set `samples_per_gpu=8` as global setting.
+See [config](/configs/textrecog/sar/sar_r31_parallel_decoder_toy_dataset.py) for an example.
diff --git a/mmocr/apis/inference.py b/mmocr/apis/inference.py
index e9e5b777..1c009a8b 100644
--- a/mmocr/apis/inference.py
+++ b/mmocr/apis/inference.py
@@ -6,23 +6,40 @@ from mmdet.datasets import replace_ImageToTensor
 from mmdet.datasets.pipelines import Compose
 
 
-def disable_text_recog_aug_test(cfg):
+def disable_text_recog_aug_test(cfg, set_types=None):
     """Remove aug_test from test pipeline of text recognition.
     Args:
         cfg (mmcv.Config): Input config.
+        set_types (list[str]): Type of dataset source. Should be
+            None or sublist of ['test', 'val']
 
     Returns:
         cfg (mmcv.Config): Output config removing
             `MultiRotateAugOCR` in test pipeline.
     """
-    if cfg.data.test.pipeline[1].type == 'MultiRotateAugOCR':
-        cfg.data.test.pipeline = [
-            cfg.data.test.pipeline[0], *cfg.data.test.pipeline[1].transforms
-        ]
+    assert set_types is None or isinstance(set_types, list)
+    if set_types is None:
+        set_types = ['val', 'test']
+    for set_type in set_types:
+        if cfg.data[set_type].pipeline[1].type == 'MultiRotateAugOCR':
+            cfg.data[set_type].pipeline = [
+                cfg.data[set_type].pipeline[0],
+                *cfg.data[set_type].pipeline[1].transforms
+            ]
+        assert_if_not_support_batch_mode(cfg, set_type)
 
     return cfg
 
 
+def assert_if_not_support_batch_mode(cfg, set_type='test'):
+    if cfg.data[set_type].pipeline[1].type == 'ResizeOCR':
+        if cfg.data[set_type].pipeline[1].max_width is None:
+            raise Exception('Batch mode is not supported '
+                            'since the image width is not fixed, '
+                            'in the case that keeping aspect ratio but '
+                            'max_width is none when do resize.')
+
+
 def model_inference(model, imgs, batch_mode=False):
     """Inference image(s) with the detector.
 
@@ -51,13 +68,7 @@ def model_inference(model, imgs, batch_mode=False):
     cfg = model.cfg
 
     if batch_mode:
-        if cfg.data.test.pipeline[1].type == 'ResizeOCR':
-            if cfg.data.test.pipeline[1].max_width is None:
-                raise Exception('Free resize do not support batch mode '
-                                'since the image width is not fixed, '
-                                'for resize keeping aspect ratio and '
-                                'max_width is not give.')
-        cfg = disable_text_recog_aug_test(cfg)
+        cfg = disable_text_recog_aug_test(cfg, set_types=['test'])
 
     device = next(model.parameters()).device  # model device
 
diff --git a/mmocr/apis/train.py b/mmocr/apis/train.py
index e3bb9cc4..ecebeac4 100644
--- a/mmocr/apis/train.py
+++ b/mmocr/apis/train.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from mmdet.core import DistEvalHook, EvalHook
 from mmdet.datasets import (build_dataloader, build_dataset,
                             replace_ImageToTensor)
 
+from mmocr.apis.inference import disable_text_recog_aug_test
 from mmocr.utils import get_root_logger
 
 
@@ -24,30 +25,32 @@ def train_detector(model,
 
     # prepare data loaders
     dataset = dataset if isinstance(dataset, (list, tuple)) else [dataset]
-    if 'imgs_per_gpu' in cfg.data:
-        logger.warning('"imgs_per_gpu" is deprecated in MMDet V2.0. '
-                       'Please use "samples_per_gpu" instead')
-        if 'samples_per_gpu' in cfg.data:
-            logger.warning(
-                f'Got "imgs_per_gpu"={cfg.data.imgs_per_gpu} and '
-                f'"samples_per_gpu"={cfg.data.samples_per_gpu}, "imgs_per_gpu"'
-                f'={cfg.data.imgs_per_gpu} is used in this experiments')
-        else:
-            logger.warning(
-                'Automatically set "samples_per_gpu"="imgs_per_gpu"='
-                f'{cfg.data.imgs_per_gpu} in this experiments')
-        cfg.data.samples_per_gpu = cfg.data.imgs_per_gpu
-
-    data_loaders = [
-        build_dataloader(
-            ds,
-            cfg.data.samples_per_gpu,
-            cfg.data.workers_per_gpu,
-            # cfg.gpus will be ignored if distributed
-            len(cfg.gpu_ids),
+    # step 1: give default values and override (if exist) from cfg.data
+    loader_cfg = {
+        **dict(
+            seed=cfg.get('seed'),
+            drop_last=False,
             dist=distributed,
-            seed=cfg.seed) for ds in dataset
-    ]
+            num_gpus=len(cfg.gpu_ids)),
+        **({} if torch.__version__ != 'parrots' else dict(
+               prefetch_num=2,
+               pin_memory=False,
+           )),
+        **dict((k, cfg.data[k]) for k in [
+                   'samples_per_gpu',
+                   'workers_per_gpu',
+                   'shuffle',
+                   'seed',
+                   'drop_last',
+                   'prefetch_num',
+                   'pin_memory',
+               ] if k in cfg.data)
+    }
+
+    # step 2: cfg.data.train_dataloader has highest priority
+    train_loader_cfg = dict(loader_cfg, **cfg.data.get('train_dataloader', {}))
+
+    data_loaders = [build_dataloader(ds, **train_loader_cfg) for ds in dataset]
 
     # put model on gpus
     if distributed:
@@ -110,19 +113,28 @@ def train_detector(model,
 
     # register eval hooks
     if validate:
-        # Support batch_size > 1 in validation
-        val_samples_per_gpu = cfg.data.val.pop('samples_per_gpu', 1)
+        val_samples_per_gpu = (cfg.data.get('val_dataloader', {})).get(
+            'samples_per_gpu', cfg.data.get('samples_per_gpu', 1))
         if val_samples_per_gpu > 1:
-            # Replace 'ImageToTensor' to 'DefaultFormatBundle'
-            cfg.data.val.pipeline = replace_ImageToTensor(
-                cfg.data.val.pipeline)
+            # Support batch_size > 1 in test for text recognition
+            # by disable MultiRotateAugOCR since it is useless for most case
+            cfg = disable_text_recog_aug_test(cfg)
+            if cfg.data.val.get('pipeline', None) is not None:
+                # Replace 'ImageToTensor' to 'DefaultFormatBundle'
+                cfg.data.val.pipeline = replace_ImageToTensor(
+                    cfg.data.val.pipeline)
+
         val_dataset = build_dataset(cfg.data.val, dict(test_mode=True))
-        val_dataloader = build_dataloader(
-            val_dataset,
-            samples_per_gpu=val_samples_per_gpu,
-            workers_per_gpu=cfg.data.workers_per_gpu,
-            dist=distributed,
-            shuffle=False)
+
+        val_loader_cfg = {
+            **loader_cfg,
+            **dict(shuffle=False, drop_last=False),
+            **cfg.data.get('val_dataloader', {}),
+            **dict(samples_per_gpu=val_samples_per_gpu)
+        }
+
+        val_dataloader = build_dataloader(val_dataset, **val_loader_cfg)
+
         eval_cfg = cfg.get('evaluation', {})
         eval_cfg['by_epoch'] = cfg.runner['type'] != 'IterBasedRunner'
         eval_hook = DistEvalHook if distributed else EvalHook
diff --git a/mmocr/datasets/__init__.py b/mmocr/datasets/__init__.py
index b4bad7b4..886d098e 100644
--- a/mmocr/datasets/__init__.py
+++ b/mmocr/datasets/__init__.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from .ocr_dataset import OCRDataset
 from .ocr_seg_dataset import OCRSegDataset
 from .pipelines import CustomFormatBundle, DBNetTargets, FCENetTargets
 from .text_det_dataset import TextDetDataset
+from .uniform_concat_dataset import UniformConcatDataset
 
 from .utils import *  # NOQA
 
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ __all__ = [
     'DATASETS', 'IcdarDataset', 'build_dataloader', 'build_dataset',
     'BaseDataset', 'OCRDataset', 'TextDetDataset', 'CustomFormatBundle',
     'DBNetTargets', 'OCRSegDataset', 'KIEDataset', 'FCENetTargets',
-    'NerDataset'
+    'NerDataset', 'UniformConcatDataset'
 ]
 
 __all__ += utils.__all__
diff --git a/mmocr/datasets/uniform_concat_dataset.py b/mmocr/datasets/uniform_concat_dataset.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0fe7275c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mmocr/datasets/uniform_concat_dataset.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import copy
+
+from mmdet.datasets import DATASETS, ConcatDataset, build_dataset
+
+
+@DATASETS.register_module()
+class UniformConcatDataset(ConcatDataset):
+    """A wrapper of concatenated dataset.
+
+    Same as :obj:`torch.utils.data.dataset.ConcatDataset`, but
+    concat the group flag for image aspect ratio.
+
+    Args:
+        datasets (list[:obj:`Dataset`]): A list of datasets.
+        separate_eval (bool): Whether to evaluate the results
+            separately if it is used as validation dataset.
+            Defaults to True.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, datasets, separate_eval=True, pipeline=None, **kwargs):
+        from_cfg = all(isinstance(x, dict) for x in datasets)
+        if pipeline is not None:
+            assert from_cfg, 'datasets should be config dicts'
+            for dataset in datasets:
+                dataset['pipeline'] = copy.deepcopy(pipeline)
+        datasets = [build_dataset(c, kwargs) for c in datasets]
+        super().__init__(datasets, separate_eval)
diff --git a/tests/test_apis/test_model_inference.py b/tests/test_apis/test_model_inference.py
index 63036f8d..e7c164aa 100644
--- a/tests/test_apis/test_model_inference.py
+++ b/tests/test_apis/test_model_inference.py
@@ -114,19 +114,19 @@ def test_model_batch_inference_raises_exception_error_free_resize_recog(
 
     with pytest.raises(
             Exception,
-            match='Free resize do not support batch mode '
+            match='Batch mode is not supported '
             'since the image width is not fixed, '
-            'for resize keeping aspect ratio and '
-            'max_width is not give.'):
+            'in the case that keeping aspect ratio but '
+            'max_width is none when do resize.'):
         sample_img_path = os.path.join(tmp_dir, '../demo/demo_text_recog.jpg')
         model_inference(
             model, [sample_img_path, sample_img_path], batch_mode=True)
 
     with pytest.raises(
             Exception,
-            match='Free resize do not support batch mode '
+            match='Batch mode is not supported '
             'since the image width is not fixed, '
-            'for resize keeping aspect ratio and '
-            'max_width is not give.'):
+            'in the case that keeping aspect ratio but '
+            'max_width is none when do resize.'):
         img = imread(sample_img_path)
         model_inference(model, [img, img], batch_mode=True)
diff --git a/tools/test.py b/tools/test.py
index 63593168..fd352460 100755
--- a/tools/test.py
+++ b/tools/test.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from mmcv.runner import (get_dist_info, init_dist, load_checkpoint,
 from mmdet.apis import multi_gpu_test, single_gpu_test
 from mmdet.datasets import replace_ImageToTensor
 
+from mmocr.apis.inference import disable_text_recog_aug_test
 from mmocr.datasets import build_dataloader, build_dataset
 from mmocr.models import build_detector
 
@@ -140,12 +141,16 @@ def main():
     # in case the test dataset is concatenated
     samples_per_gpu = 1
     if isinstance(cfg.data.test, dict):
-        cfg.data.test.test_mode = True
-        samples_per_gpu = cfg.data.test.pop('samples_per_gpu', 1)
+        samples_per_gpu = (cfg.data.get('test_dataloader', {})).get(
+            'samples_per_gpu', cfg.data.get('samples_per_gpu', 1))
         if samples_per_gpu > 1:
-            # Replace 'ImageToTensor' to 'DefaultFormatBundle'
-            cfg.data.test.pipeline = replace_ImageToTensor(
-                cfg.data.test.pipeline)
+            # Support batch_size > 1 in test for text recognition
+            # by disable MultiRotateAugOCR since it is useless for most case
+            cfg = disable_text_recog_aug_test(cfg)
+            if cfg.data.test.get('pipeline', None) is not None:
+                # Replace 'ImageToTensor' to 'DefaultFormatBundle'
+                cfg.data.test.pipeline = replace_ImageToTensor(
+                    cfg.data.test.pipeline)
     elif isinstance(cfg.data.test, list):
         for ds_cfg in cfg.data.test:
             ds_cfg.test_mode = True
@@ -163,13 +168,29 @@ def main():
         init_dist(args.launcher, **cfg.dist_params)
 
     # build the dataloader
-    dataset = build_dataset(cfg.data.test)
-    data_loader = build_dataloader(
-        dataset,
-        samples_per_gpu=samples_per_gpu,
-        workers_per_gpu=cfg.data.workers_per_gpu,
-        dist=distributed,
-        shuffle=False)
+    dataset = build_dataset(cfg.data.test, dict(test_mode=True))
+    # step 1: give default values and override (if exist) from cfg.data
+    loader_cfg = {
+        **dict(seed=cfg.get('seed'), drop_last=False, dist=distributed),
+        **({} if torch.__version__ != 'parrots' else dict(
+               prefetch_num=2,
+               pin_memory=False,
+           )),
+        **dict((k, cfg.data[k]) for k in [
+                   'workers_per_gpu',
+                   'seed',
+                   'prefetch_num',
+                   'pin_memory',
+               ] if k in cfg.data)
+    }
+    test_loader_cfg = {
+        **loader_cfg,
+        **dict(shuffle=False, drop_last=False),
+        **cfg.data.get('test_dataloader', {}),
+        **dict(samples_per_gpu=samples_per_gpu)
+    }
+
+    data_loader = build_dataloader(dataset, **test_loader_cfg)
 
     # build the model and load checkpoint
     cfg.model.train_cfg = None