 <p>You have chose wrong selector, :td is not correct. You need to attach event directly on tr. You may use <code>mouseenter</code> instead of <code>mouseover</code> as mouseover will fire again and again as mouse moves on it, <code>it will cause needless execution of code</code>. You need to change the class only once so mouse enter would be do that for you. </p> <p><strong><a href="http://jsfiddle.net/rajaadil/Bf3MT/" rel="nofollow">Live Demo</a></strong></p> <pre><code>$(document).ready(function() { $('#gvrecords tr').mouseenter(function() { $(this).addClass('highlightRow'); }).mouseout(function() { $(this).removeClass('highlightRow'); }) }) </code></pre>