 <p>I know it's probably late... but here's your answer: <code>android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog</code> in AppCompat support library use <a href="https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_support/blob/master/v7/appcompat/res/layout/select_dialog_singlechoice_material.xml" rel="nofollow">this</a> layout by default (unless you provide your own adapter) for singleChoiceDialog:</p> <pre><code>&lt;CheckedTextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:id="@android:id/text1" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:minHeight="?attr/listPreferredItemHeightSmall" android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" android:textColor="?attr/textColorAlertDialogListItem" android:gravity="center_vertical" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/abc_select_dialog_padding_start_material" android:paddingRight="?attr/dialogPreferredPadding" android:paddingStart="@dimen/abc_select_dialog_padding_start_material" android:paddingEnd="?attr/dialogPreferredPadding" android:drawableLeft="?android:attr/listChoiceIndicatorSingle" android:drawableStart="?android:attr/listChoiceIndicatorSingle" android:drawablePadding="20dp" android:ellipsize="marquee" /&gt; </code></pre> <p>The attribute used to set this up in the theme is <code>singleChoiceItemLayout</code> so you can override it with your own layout to get whatever UI you want.</p> <p>If you just want to change the text color just define the attribute <code>textColorAlertDialogListItem</code> as you can see from the layout it's the one used for <code>android:textColor</code>.</p> <p>In general when I need something like this i go and look at the source code since it is available. The support libraries source code can be found <a href="https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_support" rel="nofollow">here</a>, while most of the framework source code can be find <a href="https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>