Try using android:drawSelectorOnTop="true" in your RecyclerView in an XML file. And set the Ripple effect selector as the android:background property of your RecyclerView cell .
An example of a selector for a cell in the drawable-v21 folder:
ripple_selector.xml
<ripple xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:color="@color/preference_item_pressed"> <item android:id="@android:id/mask"> <color android:color="@android:color/white" /> </item> </ripple>
And an example of a cell with selector background:
cell.xml
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:layout_width="72dp" android:layout_height="72dp" android:background="@drawable/ripple_selector"> </RelativeLayout>
source share