diff --git a/base/search/hnsw.go b/base/search/hnsw.go
index 597b17a43..94dfc2246 100644
--- a/base/search/hnsw.go
+++ b/base/search/hnsw.go
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ type HNSW struct {
 	levelFactor    float32
 	maxConnection  int // maximum number of connections for each element per layer
 	maxConnection0 int
+	ef             int
 	efConstruction int
 	numJobs        int
 }
@@ -78,6 +79,14 @@ func SetEFConstruction(efConstruction int) HNSWConfig {
 	}
 }
 
+// SetEF sets the EF search value in HNSW.
+// By default ef for search is the same as efConstruction. To return it to this default behavior, set it to 0.
+func SetEF(ef int) HNSWConfig {
+	return func(h *HNSW) {
+		h.ef = ef
+	}
+}
+
 // NewHNSW builds a vector index based on Hierarchical Navigable Small Worlds.
 func NewHNSW(vectors []Vector, configs ...HNSWConfig) *HNSW {
 	h := &HNSW{
@@ -96,7 +105,7 @@ func NewHNSW(vectors []Vector, configs ...HNSWConfig) *HNSW {
 
 // Search a vector in Hierarchical Navigable Small Worlds.
 func (h *HNSW) Search(q Vector, n int, prune0 bool) (values []int32, scores []float32) {
-	w := h.knnSearch(q, n, mathutil.Max(h.efConstruction, n))
+	w := h.knnSearch(q, n, h.efSearchValue(n))
 	for w.Len() > 0 {
 		value, score := w.Pop()
 		if !prune0 || score < 0 {
@@ -418,7 +427,7 @@ func (h *HNSW) MultiSearch(q Vector, terms []string, n int, prune0 bool) (values
 		scores[term] = make([]float32, 0, n)
 	}
 
-	w := h.efSearch(q, mathutil.Max(h.efConstruction, n))
+	w := h.efSearch(q, h.efSearchValue(n))
 	for w.Len() > 0 {
 		value, score := w.Pop()
 		if !prune0 || score < 0 {
@@ -452,6 +461,14 @@ func (h *HNSW) efSearch(q Vector, ef int) *heap.PriorityQueue {
 	return w
 }
 
+// efSearchValue returns the efSearch value to use, given the current number of elements desired.
+func (h *HNSW) efSearchValue(n int) int {
+	if h.ef > 0 {
+		return mathutil.Max(h.ef, n)
+	}
+	return mathutil.Max(h.efConstruction, n)
+}
+
 func EstimateHNSWBuilderComplexity(dataSize, trials int) int {
 	// build index
 	complexity := dataSize * dataSize
diff --git a/base/search/hnsw_test.go b/base/search/hnsw_test.go
index 94a789fe2..8aec93ba0 100644
--- a/base/search/hnsw_test.go
+++ b/base/search/hnsw_test.go
@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@
 package search
 
 import (
-	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
 func TestHNSWConfig(t *testing.T) {
@@ -30,4 +31,7 @@ func TestHNSWConfig(t *testing.T) {
 
 	SetEFConstruction(345)(hnsw)
 	assert.Equal(t, 345, hnsw.efConstruction)
+
+	SetEF(456)(hnsw)
+	assert.Equal(t, 456, hnsw.ef)
 }