diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 91d77aca954e6..ee531af5757cf 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,15 @@ matrix:
   - os: osx
     osx_image: xcode10.3
     env:
-      - MATRIX_EVAL="CC=clang && CXX=clang++ && PYTHON=python3.7"
+      - MATRIX_EVAL="CC=clang && CXX=clang++ && PYTHON_VERSION=3.6.1 && PYTHON=python"
+  - os: osx
+    osx_image: xcode10.3
+    env:
+      - MATRIX_EVAL="CC=clang && CXX=clang++ && PYTHON_VERSION=3.7.1 && PYTHON=python"
+  - os: osx
+    osx_image: xcode10.3
+    env:
+      - MATRIX_EVAL="CC=clang && CXX=clang++ && PYTHON_VERSION=3.8.1 && PYTHON=python"
 
 before_install:
 - eval "${MATRIX_EVAL}"
@@ -26,8 +34,12 @@ before_install:
 - cd ..
 - llvm-config --version
 
+install:
+- .travis/install.sh
+
 script:
 - cd $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR
+- export PATH="$HOME/.pyenv/shims:$HOME/.pyenv/bin:$PATH"
 - $PYTHON ci_setup.py ci
 - export TAICHI_REPO_DIR=$TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR
 - export PYTHONPATH=$TAICHI_REPO_DIR/python
diff --git a/.travis/install.sh b/.travis/install.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..5e1ea0571f20a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.travis/install.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# use brew & pyenv to build specific python on osx
+if [[ $TRAVIS_OS_NAME == 'osx' ]]; then
+    export PATH="$HOME/.pyenv/bin:$PATH"
+    eval "${MATRIX_EVAL}"
+    echo "python version: $PYTHON_VERSION"
+    brew update > /dev/null
+    brew upgrade pyenv
+    # use pyenv to build python
+    eval "$(pyenv init -)"
+    pyenv install $PYTHON_VERSION
+    pyenv global $PYTHON_VERSION
+    pyenv rehash
+fi
diff --git a/ci_setup.py b/ci_setup.py
index 99a57716d26e5..cea8331237c88 100644
--- a/ci_setup.py
+++ b/ci_setup.py
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ def execute_command(line, allow_nonzero_output = 0):
 
 def get_os_name():
   name = platform.platform()
-  if name.lower().startswith('darwin'):
+  # in python 3.8, platform.platform() uses mac_ver() on macOS
+  # it will return 'macOS-XXXX' instead of 'Darwin-XXXX'
+  if name.lower().startswith('darwin') or name.lower().startswith('macos'):
     return 'osx'
   elif name.lower().startswith('windows'):
     return 'win'
diff --git a/python/build.py b/python/build.py
index 6e84be6333d0e..75c9a848fd002 100644
--- a/python/build.py
+++ b/python/build.py
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@
 
 def get_os_name():
   name = platform.platform()
-  if name.lower().startswith('darwin'):
+  # in python 3.8, platform.platform() uses mac_ver() on macOS
+  # it will return 'macOS-XXXX' instead of 'Darwin-XXXX'
+  if name.lower().startswith('darwin') or name.lower().startswith('macos'):
     return 'osx'
   elif name.lower().startswith('windows'):
     return 'win'
diff --git a/python/taichi/misc/util.py b/python/taichi/misc/util.py
index b79f9e2f1b492..d7f520b638726 100644
--- a/python/taichi/misc/util.py
+++ b/python/taichi/misc/util.py
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
 
 def get_os_name():
   name = platform.platform()
-  if name.lower().startswith('darwin'):
+  # in python 3.8, platform.platform() uses mac_ver() on macOS
+  # it will return 'macOS-XXXX' instead of 'Darwin-XXXX'
+  if name.lower().startswith('darwin') or name.lower().startswith('macos'):
     return 'osx'
   elif name.lower().startswith('windows'):
     return 'win'