diff --git a/docs/api-guide/filtering.md b/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
index 8573c25915..f09b222570 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
@@ -230,6 +230,7 @@ The search behavior may be specified by prefixing field names in `search_fields`
 | `$`    | `iregex`      | Regex search.      |
 | `@`    | `search`      | Full-text search (Currently only supported Django's [PostgreSQL backend][postgres-search]). |
 | None   | `icontains`   | Contains search (Default).  |
+| `&`    | `unaccent`    | Accent-insensitive search. (Currently only supported Django's [PostgreSQL backend][postgres-lookups]). |
 
 For example:
 
@@ -370,3 +371,4 @@ The [djangorestframework-word-filter][django-rest-framework-word-search-filter]
 [HStoreField]: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/ref/contrib/postgres/fields/#hstorefield
 [JSONField]: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/ref/models/fields/#django.db.models.JSONField
 [postgres-search]: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/ref/contrib/postgres/search/
+[postgres-lookups]: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/ref/contrib/postgres/lookups/#unaccent
diff --git a/rest_framework/filters.py b/rest_framework/filters.py
index 10d861c87d..acfa3bb7e3 100644
--- a/rest_framework/filters.py
+++ b/rest_framework/filters.py
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ class SearchFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
         '=': 'iexact',
         '@': 'search',
         '$': 'iregex',
+        '&': 'unaccent',
     }
     search_title = _('Search')
     search_description = _('A search term.')
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index f8bd173de1..f5816f4c3e 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
+import contextlib
 import os
 
 import dj_database_url
 import django
 import pytest
 from django.apps import apps
+from django.contrib.postgres.operations import UnaccentExtension
 from django.core import management
 from django.core.management.color import no_style
 from django.db import connection
+from django.db.migrations.state import ProjectState
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -141,3 +144,29 @@ def pytest_collection_modifyitems(config, items):
         for item in items:
             if 'requires_postgres' in item.keywords:
                 item.add_marker(skip_postgres)
+
+
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def _postgres_extension(extension):
+    """Helper to enable a PostgreSQL extension in tests."""
+    with connection.schema_editor(atomic=False) as schema_editor:
+        extension.database_forwards(
+            app_label='tests',
+            schema_editor=schema_editor,
+            from_state=ProjectState(),
+            to_state=ProjectState(),
+        )
+        yield
+        extension.database_backwards(
+            app_label='tests',
+            schema_editor=schema_editor,
+            from_state=ProjectState(),
+            to_state=ProjectState(),
+        )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def postgres_unaccent(db):
+    """Enable the unaccent PostgreSQL extension in tests."""
+    with _postgres_extension(UnaccentExtension()):
+        yield
diff --git a/tests/test_filters.py b/tests/test_filters.py
index cf3e5eb3c5..2f88a8fe46 100644
--- a/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -247,6 +247,27 @@ def as_sql(self, compiler, connection):
                 {'id': 2, 'title': 'zz', 'text': 'bcd'},
             ]
 
+    @pytest.mark.requires_postgres
+    @pytest.mark.usefixtures('postgres_unaccent')
+    def test_search_field_with_unaccent(self):
+        SearchFilterModel.objects.create(title='Jeremy', text='jeremy')
+        SearchFilterModel.objects.create(title='Jérémy', text='jérémy')
+        SearchFilterModel.objects.create(title='Jérémie', text='jérémie')
+        SearchFilterModel.objects.create(title='Jeremie', text='jeremie')
+
+        class SearchListView(generics.ListAPIView):
+            queryset = SearchFilterModel.objects.all()
+            serializer_class = SearchFilterSerializer
+            filter_backends = (filters.SearchFilter,)
+            search_fields = ('&title',)
+
+        view = SearchListView.as_view()
+
+        request = factory.get('/', {'search': 'Jerem'})
+        response = view(request)
+        assert len(response.data) == 4
+        assert {item['title'] for item in response.data} == {'Jeremy', 'Jérémy', 'Jérémie', 'Jeremie'}
+
     def test_search_field_with_multiple_words(self):
         class SearchListView(generics.ListAPIView):
             queryset = SearchFilterModel.objects.all()