diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 3ac22adbf..9f03b65c2 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -153,7 +153,18 @@ type BaseConfig struct {
 	// and verifying their commits
 	FastSync bool `mapstructure:"fast_sync"`
 
-	// Database backend: leveldb | memdb | cleveldb
+	// Database backend: goleveldb | cleveldb | boltdb
+	// * goleveldb (github.com/syndtr/goleveldb - most popular implementation)
+	//   - pure go
+	//   - stable
+	// * cleveldb (uses levigo wrapper)
+	//   - fast
+	//   - requires gcc
+	//   - use cleveldb build tag (go build -tags cleveldb)
+	// * boltdb (uses etcd's fork of bolt - github.com/etcd-io/bbolt)
+	//   - EXPERIMENTAL
+	//   - may be faster is some use-cases (random reads - indexer)
+	//   - use boltdb build tag (go build -tags boltdb)
 	DBBackend string `mapstructure:"db_backend"`
 
 	// Database directory
diff --git a/config/toml.go b/config/toml.go
index f80f525e4..b1541c05a 100644
--- a/config/toml.go
+++ b/config/toml.go
@@ -81,7 +81,18 @@ moniker = "{{ .BaseConfig.Moniker }}"
 # and verifying their commits
 fast_sync = {{ .BaseConfig.FastSync }}
 
-# Database backend: leveldb | memdb | cleveldb
+# Database backend: goleveldb | cleveldb | boltdb
+# * goleveldb (github.com/syndtr/goleveldb - most popular implementation)
+#   - pure go
+#   - stable
+# * cleveldb (uses levigo wrapper)
+#   - fast
+#   - requires gcc
+#   - use cleveldb build tag (go build -tags cleveldb)
+# * boltdb (uses etcd's fork of bolt - github.com/etcd-io/bbolt)
+#   - EXPERIMENTAL
+#   - may be faster is some use-cases (random reads - indexer)
+#   - use boltdb build tag (go build -tags boltdb)
 db_backend = "{{ .BaseConfig.DBBackend }}"
 
 # Database directory
diff --git a/docs/introduction/install.md b/docs/introduction/install.md
index 3005a7349..e96135826 100644
--- a/docs/introduction/install.md
+++ b/docs/introduction/install.md
@@ -79,9 +79,7 @@ make install
 
 Install [LevelDB](https://github.com/google/leveldb) (minimum version is 1.7).
 
-### Ubuntu
-
-Install LevelDB with snappy (optionally):
+Install LevelDB with snappy (optionally). Below are commands for Ubuntu:
 
 ```
 sudo apt-get update
@@ -100,23 +98,23 @@ wget https://github.com/google/leveldb/archive/v1.20.tar.gz && \
   rm -f v1.20.tar.gz
 ```
 
-Set database backend to cleveldb:
+Set a database backend to `cleveldb`:
 
 ```
 # config/config.toml
 db_backend = "cleveldb"
 ```
 
-To install Tendermint, run
+To install Tendermint, run:
 
 ```
 CGO_LDFLAGS="-lsnappy" make install_c
 ```
 
-or run
+or run:
 
 ```
 CGO_LDFLAGS="-lsnappy" make build_c
 ```
 
-to put the binary in `./build`.
+which puts the binary in `./build`.
diff --git a/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md b/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md
index d19c272fc..cdbdf1fe2 100644
--- a/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/tendermint-core/configuration.md
@@ -30,7 +30,18 @@ moniker = "anonymous"
 # and verifying their commits
 fast_sync = true
 
-# Database backend: leveldb | memdb | cleveldb
+# Database backend: goleveldb | cleveldb | boltdb
+# * goleveldb (github.com/syndtr/goleveldb - most popular implementation)
+#   - pure go
+#   - stable
+# * cleveldb (uses levigo wrapper)
+#   - fast
+#   - requires gcc
+#   - use cleveldb build tag (go build -tags cleveldb)
+# * boltdb (uses etcd's fork of bolt - github.com/etcd-io/bbolt)
+#   - EXPERIMENTAL
+#   - may be faster is some use-cases (random reads - indexer)
+#   - use boltdb build tag (go build -tags boltdb)
 db_backend = "leveldb"
 
 # Database directory