diff --git a/mmcls/apis/inference.py b/mmcls/apis/inference.py
index 94bf2e70..5907328f 100644
--- a/mmcls/apis/inference.py
+++ b/mmcls/apis/inference.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # Copyright (c) OpenMMLab. All rights reserved.
 import warnings
 
-import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import mmcv
 import numpy as np
 import torch
@@ -90,7 +89,7 @@ def inference_model(model, img):
     return result
 
 
-def show_result_pyplot(model, img, result, fig_size=(15, 10)):
+def show_result_pyplot(model, img, result, fig_size=(15, 10), wait_time=0):
     """Visualize the classification results on the image.
 
     Args:
@@ -98,10 +97,11 @@ def show_result_pyplot(model, img, result, fig_size=(15, 10)):
         img (str or np.ndarray): Image filename or loaded image.
         result (list): The classification result.
         fig_size (tuple): Figure size of the pyplot figure.
+            Defaults to (15, 10).
+        wait_time (int): How many seconds to display the image.
+            Defaults to 0.
     """
     if hasattr(model, 'module'):
         model = model.module
-    img = model.show_result(img, result, show=False)
-    plt.figure(figsize=fig_size)
-    plt.imshow(mmcv.bgr2rgb(img))
-    plt.show()
+    model.show_result(
+        img, result, show=True, fig_size=fig_size, wait_time=wait_time)
diff --git a/mmcls/core/visualization/__init__.py b/mmcls/core/visualization/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ea89d749
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mmcls/core/visualization/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+from .image import color_val_matplotlib, imshow_infos
+
+__all__ = ['imshow_infos', 'color_val_matplotlib']
diff --git a/mmcls/core/visualization/image.py b/mmcls/core/visualization/image.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9076eddb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mmcls/core/visualization/image.py
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+import mmcv
+import numpy as np
+
+# A small value
+EPS = 1e-2
+
+
+def color_val_matplotlib(color):
+    """Convert various input in BGR order to normalized RGB matplotlib color
+    tuples,
+
+    Args:
+        color (:obj:`mmcv.Color`/str/tuple/int/ndarray): Color inputs
+
+    Returns:
+        tuple[float]: A tuple of 3 normalized floats indicating RGB channels.
+    """
+    color = mmcv.color_val(color)
+    color = [color / 255 for color in color[::-1]]
+    return tuple(color)
+
+
+def imshow_infos(img,
+                 infos,
+                 text_color='white',
+                 font_size=26,
+                 row_width=20,
+                 win_name='',
+                 show=True,
+                 fig_size=(15, 10),
+                 wait_time=0,
+                 out_file=None):
+    """Show image with extra infomation.
+
+    Args:
+        img (str | ndarray): The image to be displayed.
+        infos (dict): Extra infos to display in the image.
+        text_color (:obj:`mmcv.Color`/str/tuple/int/ndarray): Extra infos
+            display color. Defaults to 'white'.
+        font_size (int): Extra infos display font size. Defaults to 26.
+        row_width (int): width between each row of results on the image.
+        win_name (str): The image title. Defaults to ''
+        show (bool): Whether to show the image. Defaults to True.
+        fig_size (tuple): Image show figure size. Defaults to (15, 10).
+        wait_time (int): How many seconds to display the image. Defaults to 0.
+        out_file (Optional[str]): The filename to write the image.
+            Defaults to None.
+
+    Returns:
+        np.ndarray: The image with extra infomations.
+    """
+    img = mmcv.imread(img).astype(np.uint8)
+
+    x, y = 3, row_width // 2
+    text_color = color_val_matplotlib(text_color)
+
+    img = mmcv.bgr2rgb(img)
+    width, height = img.shape[1], img.shape[0]
+    img = np.ascontiguousarray(img)
+
+    # A proper dpi for image save with default font size.
+    fig = plt.figure(win_name, frameon=False, figsize=fig_size, dpi=36)
+    plt.title(win_name)
+    canvas = fig.canvas
+    dpi = fig.get_dpi()
+    # add a small EPS to avoid precision lost due to matplotlib's truncation
+    # (https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/15363)
+    fig.set_size_inches((width + EPS) / dpi, (height + EPS) / dpi)
+
+    # remove white edges by set subplot margin
+    plt.subplots_adjust(left=0, right=1, bottom=0, top=1)
+    ax = plt.gca()
+    ax.axis('off')
+
+    for k, v in infos.items():
+        if isinstance(v, float):
+            v = f'{v:.2f}'
+        label_text = f'{k}: {v}'
+        ax.text(
+            x,
+            y,
+            f'{label_text}',
+            bbox={
+                'facecolor': 'black',
+                'alpha': 0.7,
+                'pad': 0.2,
+                'edgecolor': 'none',
+                'boxstyle': 'round'
+            },
+            color=text_color,
+            fontsize=font_size,
+            family='monospace',
+            verticalalignment='top',
+            horizontalalignment='left')
+        y += row_width
+
+    plt.imshow(img)
+    stream, _ = canvas.print_to_buffer()
+    buffer = np.frombuffer(stream, dtype='uint8')
+    img_rgba = buffer.reshape(height, width, 4)
+    rgb, _ = np.split(img_rgba, [3], axis=2)
+    img = rgb.astype('uint8')
+    img = mmcv.rgb2bgr(img)
+
+    if show:
+        # Matplotlib will adjust text size depends on window size and image
+        # aspect ratio. It's hard to get, so here we set an adaptive dpi
+        # according to screen height. 20 here is an empirical parameter.
+        fig_manager = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
+        if hasattr(fig_manager, 'window'):
+            # Figure manager doesn't have window if no screen.
+            screen_dpi = fig_manager.window.winfo_screenheight() // 20
+            fig.set_dpi(screen_dpi)
+
+        # We do not use cv2 for display because in some cases, opencv will
+        # conflict with Qt, it will output a warning: Current thread
+        # is not the object's thread. You can refer to
+        # https://github.com/opencv/opencv-python/issues/46 for details
+        if wait_time == 0:
+            plt.show()
+        else:
+            plt.show(block=False)
+            plt.pause(wait_time)
+    if out_file is not None:
+        mmcv.imwrite(img, out_file)
+
+    plt.close()
+
+    return img
diff --git a/mmcls/models/classifiers/base.py b/mmcls/models/classifiers/base.py
index 416e8b6e..725c4340 100644
--- a/mmcls/models/classifiers/base.py
+++ b/mmcls/models/classifiers/base.py
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ import warnings
 from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
 from collections import OrderedDict
 
-import cv2
 import mmcv
 import torch
 import torch.distributed as dist
-from mmcv import color_val
 from mmcv.runner import BaseModule
 
+from mmcls.core.visualization import imshow_infos
+
 # TODO import `auto_fp16` from mmcv and delete them from mmcls
 try:
     from mmcv.runner import auto_fp16
@@ -169,10 +169,11 @@ class BaseClassifier(BaseModule, metaclass=ABCMeta):
     def show_result(self,
                     img,
                     result,
-                    text_color='green',
+                    text_color='white',
                     font_scale=0.5,
                     row_width=20,
                     show=False,
+                    fig_size=(15, 10),
                     win_name='',
                     wait_time=0,
                     out_file=None):
@@ -186,39 +187,29 @@ class BaseClassifier(BaseModule, metaclass=ABCMeta):
             row_width (int): width between each row of results on the image.
             show (bool): Whether to show the image.
                 Default: False.
+            fig_size (tuple): Image show figure size. Defaults to (15, 10).
             win_name (str): The window name.
-            wait_time (int): Value of waitKey param.
-                Default: 0.
+            wait_time (int): How many seconds to display the image.
+                Defaults to 0.
             out_file (str or None): The filename to write the image.
                 Default: None.
 
         Returns:
-            img (ndarray): Only if not `show` or `out_file`
+            img (ndarray): Image with overlayed results.
         """
         img = mmcv.imread(img)
         img = img.copy()
 
-        # write results on left-top of the image
-        x, y = 0, row_width
-        text_color = color_val(text_color)
-        for k, v in result.items():
-            if isinstance(v, float):
-                v = f'{v:.2f}'
-            label_text = f'{k}: {v}'
-            cv2.putText(img, label_text, (x, y), cv2.FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX,
-                        font_scale, text_color)
-            y += row_width
+        img = imshow_infos(
+            img,
+            result,
+            text_color=text_color,
+            font_size=int(font_scale * 50),
+            row_width=row_width,
+            win_name=win_name,
+            show=show,
+            fig_size=fig_size,
+            wait_time=wait_time,
+            out_file=out_file)
 
-        # if out_file specified, do not show image in window
-        if out_file is not None:
-            show = False
-
-        if show:
-            mmcv.imshow(img, win_name, wait_time)
-        if out_file is not None:
-            mmcv.imwrite(img, out_file)
-
-        if not (show or out_file):
-            warnings.warn('show==False and out_file is not specified, only '
-                          'result image will be returned')
-            return img
+        return img
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 262a3f11..27a9c11a 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -14,6 +14,6 @@ line_length = 79
 multi_line_output = 0
 known_standard_library = pkg_resources,setuptools
 known_first_party = mmcls
-known_third_party = PIL,cv2,matplotlib,mmcv,mmdet,numpy,onnxruntime,packaging,pytest,seaborn,torch,torchvision,ts
+known_third_party = PIL,matplotlib,mmcv,mmdet,numpy,onnxruntime,packaging,pytest,seaborn,torch,torchvision,ts
 no_lines_before = STDLIB,LOCALFOLDER
 default_section = THIRDPARTY
diff --git a/tests/test_models/test_classifiers.py b/tests/test_models/test_classifiers.py
index 410b2698..7f6e24ca 100644
--- a/tests/test_models/test_classifiers.py
+++ b/tests/test_models/test_classifiers.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import os.path as osp
 import tempfile
 from copy import deepcopy
-from unittest.mock import patch
 
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
@@ -85,16 +84,6 @@ def test_image_classifier():
         model.show_result(img, result, out_file=out_file)
         assert osp.exists(out_file)
 
-        def save_show(_, *args):
-            out_path = osp.join(tmpdir, '_'.join([str(arg) for arg in args]))
-            with open(out_path, 'w') as f:
-                f.write('test')
-
-        with patch('mmcv.imshow', save_show):
-            model.show_result(
-                img, result, show=True, win_name='img', wait_time=5)
-            assert osp.exists(osp.join(tmpdir, 'img_5'))
-
 
 def test_image_classifier_with_mixup():
     # Test mixup in ImageClassifier
diff --git a/tests/test_utils/test_visualization.py b/tests/test_utils/test_visualization.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b30c0089
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils/test_visualization.py
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+# Copyright (c) Open-MMLab. All rights reserved.
+import os
+import os.path as osp
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
+
+import mmcv
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+
+from mmcls.core import visualization as vis
+
+
+def test_color():
+    assert vis.color_val_matplotlib(mmcv.Color.blue) == (0., 0., 1.)
+    assert vis.color_val_matplotlib('green') == (0., 1., 0.)
+    assert vis.color_val_matplotlib((1, 2, 3)) == (3 / 255, 2 / 255, 1 / 255)
+    assert vis.color_val_matplotlib(100) == (100 / 255, 100 / 255, 100 / 255)
+    assert vis.color_val_matplotlib(np.zeros(3, dtype=int)) == (0., 0., 0.)
+    # forbid white color
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        vis.color_val_matplotlib([255, 255, 255])
+    # forbid float
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        vis.color_val_matplotlib(1.0)
+    # overflowed
+    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+        vis.color_val_matplotlib((0, 0, 500))
+
+
+def test_imshow_infos():
+    tmp_dir = osp.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), 'infos_image')
+    tmp_filename = osp.join(tmp_dir, 'image.jpg')
+
+    image = np.ones((10, 10, 3), np.uint8)
+    result = {'pred_label': 1, 'pred_class': 'bird', 'pred_score': 0.98}
+    out_image = vis.imshow_infos(
+        image, result, out_file=tmp_filename, show=False)
+    assert osp.isfile(tmp_filename)
+    assert image.shape == out_image.shape
+    assert not np.allclose(image, out_image)
+    os.remove(tmp_filename)
+
+    # test grayscale images
+    image = np.ones((10, 10), np.uint8)
+    result = {'pred_label': 1, 'pred_class': 'bird', 'pred_score': 0.98}
+    out_image = vis.imshow_infos(
+        image, result, out_file=tmp_filename, show=False)
+    assert osp.isfile(tmp_filename)
+    assert image.shape == out_image.shape[:2]
+    os.remove(tmp_filename)
+
+    # test show=True
+    image = np.ones((10, 10, 3), np.uint8)
+    result = {'pred_label': 1, 'pred_class': 'bird', 'pred_score': 0.98}
+
+    def save_args(*args, **kwargs):
+        args_list = ['args']
+        args_list += [
+            str(arg) for arg in args if isinstance(arg, (str, bool, int))
+        ]
+        args_list += [
+            f'{k}-{v}' for k, v in kwargs.items()
+            if isinstance(v, (str, bool, int))
+        ]
+        out_path = osp.join(tmp_dir, '_'.join(args_list))
+        with open(out_path, 'w') as f:
+            f.write('test')
+
+    with patch('matplotlib.pyplot.show', save_args), \
+            patch('matplotlib.pyplot.pause', save_args):
+        vis.imshow_infos(image, result, show=True, wait_time=5)
+        assert osp.exists(osp.join(tmp_dir, 'args_block-False'))
+        assert osp.exists(osp.join(tmp_dir, 'args_5'))
+
+        vis.imshow_infos(image, result, show=True, wait_time=0)
+        assert osp.exists(osp.join(tmp_dir, 'args'))
+
+    # test adaptive dpi
+    def mock_fig_manager():
+        fig_manager = Mock()
+        fig_manager.window.winfo_screenheight = Mock(return_value=1440)
+        return fig_manager
+
+    with patch('matplotlib.pyplot.get_current_fig_manager',
+               mock_fig_manager), patch('matplotlib.pyplot.show'):
+        vis.imshow_infos(image, result, show=True)
+
+    shutil.rmtree(tmp_dir)