diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/elb_target_group.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/elb_target_group.py
index 0ca6b7f8f4a..f45ad152013 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/elb_target_group.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/elb_target_group.py
@@ -131,8 +131,8 @@ options:
         If the target type is ip, specify IP addresses from the subnets of the virtual private cloud (VPC) for the target
         group, the RFC 1918 range (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16), and the RFC 6598 range (100.64.0.0/10).
         You can't specify publicly routable IP addresses.
+      - The default behavior is C(instance).
     required: false
-    default: instance
     choices: ['instance', 'ip', 'lambda']
     version_added: 2.5
     type: str
@@ -821,7 +821,7 @@ def main():
         state=dict(required=True, choices=['present', 'absent']),
         successful_response_codes=dict(),
         tags=dict(default={}, type='dict'),
-        target_type=dict(default='instance', choices=['instance', 'ip', 'lambda']),
+        target_type=dict(choices=['instance', 'ip', 'lambda']),
         targets=dict(type='list'),
         unhealthy_threshold_count=dict(type='int'),
         vpc_id=dict(),
@@ -829,10 +829,15 @@ def main():
         wait=dict(type='bool', default=False)
     )
 
-    module = AnsibleAWSModule(argument_spec=argument_spec, required_if=[
-        ['target_type', 'instance', ['protocol', 'port', 'vpc_id']],
-        ['target_type', 'ip', ['protocol', 'port', 'vpc_id']],
-    ])
+    module = AnsibleAWSModule(argument_spec=argument_spec,
+                              required_if=[
+                                  ['target_type', 'instance', ['protocol', 'port', 'vpc_id']],
+                                  ['target_type', 'ip', ['protocol', 'port', 'vpc_id']],
+                              ]
+                              )
+
+    if module.params.get('target_type') is None:
+        module.params['target_type'] = 'instance'
 
     connection = module.client('elbv2')