diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 367bc31..e801c83 100755
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
     ],
     "require": {
         "php": ">=5.4.0",
-        "illuminate/database": "4.2.x|~5.0"
+        "illuminate/database": "4.2.x|~5.0",
+        "ext-mbstring": "*"
     },
     "autoload": {
         "psr-4": {
diff --git a/src/SearchableTrait.php b/src/SearchableTrait.php
index 2f504e4..96befd8 100644
--- a/src/SearchableTrait.php
+++ b/src/SearchableTrait.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public function scopeSearch(Builder $q, $search, $threshold = null, $entireText
             return $q;
         }
 
-        $search = strtolower(trim($search));
+        $search = mb_strtolower(trim($search));
         $words = explode(' ', $search);
 
         $selects = [];