diff --git a/pandas/core/style.py b/pandas/core/style.py
index 5974e0e660a0b..59bf6118a79c6 100644
--- a/pandas/core/style.py
+++ b/pandas/core/style.py
@@ -520,17 +520,31 @@ def set_caption(self, caption):
 
     def set_table_styles(self, table_styles):
         """
-        Set the table styles on a Styler
+        Set the table styles on a Styler. These are placed in a
+        ``<style>`` tag before the generated HTML table.
 
         .. versionadded:: 0.17.1
 
         Parameters
         ----------
         table_styles: list
+            Each individual table_style should be a dictionary with
+            ``selector`` and ``props`` keys. ``selector`` should be a CSS
+            selector that the style will be applied to (automatically
+            prefixed by the table's UUID) and ``props`` should be a list of
+            tuples with ``(attribute, value)``.
 
         Returns
         -------
         self
+
+        Examples
+        --------
+        >>> df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(10, 4))
+        >>> df.style.set_table_styles(
+        ...     [{'selector': 'tr:hover',
+        ...       'props': [('background-color', 'yellow')]}]
+        ... )
         """
         self.table_styles = table_styles
         return self