diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/action/search/SearchRequestBuilder.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/action/search/SearchRequestBuilder.java
index ae139ca1a5a..4911bb21339 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/action/search/SearchRequestBuilder.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/action/search/SearchRequestBuilder.java
@@ -574,6 +574,10 @@ public class SearchRequestBuilder extends BaseRequestBuilder<SearchRequest, Sear
         return sourceBuilder();
     }
 
+    @Override public String toString() {
+        return internalBuilder().toString();
+    }
+
     @Override protected void doExecute(ActionListener<SearchResponse> listener) {
         request.source(sourceBuilder());
         client.search(request, listener);
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java
index 42984bb6449..b418aa17aeb 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java
@@ -380,6 +380,16 @@ public class SearchSourceBuilder implements ToXContent {
         return this;
     }
 
+    @Override public String toString() {
+        try {
+            XContentBuilder builder = XContentFactory.contentBuilder(XContentType.JSON).prettyPrint();
+            toXContent(builder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
+            return builder.string();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return "{ \"error\" : \"" + e.getMessage() + "\"}";
+        }
+    }
+
     public FastByteArrayOutputStream buildAsUnsafeBytes(XContentType contentType) throws SearchSourceBuilderException {
         try {
             XContentBuilder builder = XContentFactory.contentBuilder(contentType);