diff --git a/mlir/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/mlir/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -78,14 +78,12 @@
        "Links to specific python libraries, resolving all symbols.")
 
 if(MLIR_BINDINGS_PYTHON_ENABLED)
+  include(MLIRDetectPythonEnv)
   find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter Development REQUIRED)
   message(STATUS "Found python include dirs: ${Python3_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
   message(STATUS "Found python libraries: ${Python3_LIBRARIES}")
-  find_package(pybind11 CONFIG REQUIRED)
-  # TODO: pybind11 v2.6 switched from pybind11_INCLUDE_DIRS (plural) to
-  # pybind11_INCLUDE_DIR (singular). A lot has changed in this area since this
-  # was written and overall python config and pybind11 should be modernized.
-  set(pybind11_INCLUDE_DIR ${pybind11_INCLUDE_DIR} ${pybind11_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+  mlir_detect_pybind11_install()
+  find_package(pybind11 2.6 CONFIG REQUIRED)
   message(STATUS "Found pybind11 v${pybind11_VERSION}: ${pybind11_INCLUDE_DIR}")
   message(STATUS "Python prefix = '${PYTHON_MODULE_PREFIX}', "
                  "suffix = '${PYTHON_MODULE_SUFFIX}', "
diff --git a/mlir/cmake/modules/MLIRDetectPythonEnv.cmake b/mlir/cmake/modules/MLIRDetectPythonEnv.cmake
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mlir/cmake/modules/MLIRDetectPythonEnv.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Macros and functions related to detecting details of the Python environment.
+
+# Detects a pybind11 package installed in the current python environment
+# and sets variables to allow it to be found. This allows pybind11 to be
+# installed via pip, which typically yields a much more recent version than
+# the OS install, which will be available otherwise.
+function(mlir_detect_pybind11_install)
+  if(pybind11_DIR)
+    message(STATUS "Using explicit pybind11 cmake directory: ${pybind11_DIR} (-Dpybind11_DIR to change)")
+  else()
+    message(CHECK_START "Checking for pybind11 in python path...")
+    execute_process(
+      COMMAND "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}"
+      -c "import pybind11;print(pybind11.get_cmake_dir(), end='')"
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+      RESULT_VARIABLE STATUS
+      OUTPUT_VARIABLE PACKAGE_DIR
+      ERROR_QUIET)
+    if(NOT STATUS EQUAL "0")
+      message(CHECK_FAIL "not found (install via 'pip install pybind11' or set pybind11_DIR)")
+      return()
+    endif()
+    message(CHECK_PASS "found (${PACKAGE_DIR})")
+    set(pybind11_DIR "${PACKAGE_DIR}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+  endif()
+endfunction()
diff --git a/mlir/docs/Bindings/Python.md b/mlir/docs/Bindings/Python.md
--- a/mlir/docs/Bindings/Python.md
+++ b/mlir/docs/Bindings/Python.md
@@ -6,9 +6,10 @@
 
 ### Pre-requisites
 
-* [`pybind11`](https://github.com/pybind/pybind11) must be installed and able to
-  be located by CMake. Note: minimum version required: :2.6.0
 * A relatively recent Python3 installation
+* [`pybind11`](https://github.com/pybind/pybind11) must be installed and able to
+  be located by CMake (auto-detected if installed via
+  `python -m pip install pybind11`). Note: minimum version required: :2.6.0.
 
 ### CMake variables