In iOS 7.0.4 I created a custom header with it's own XIB. Nothing mentioned here before worked. It had to be the subclass of the UITableViewHeaderFooterView to work with the dequeueReusableHeaderFooterViewWithIdentifier: and it seems that class is very stubborn regarding the background color. So finally I added an UIView (you could do it either with code or IB) with name customBackgroudView, and then set it's backgroundColor property. In layoutSubviews: I set that view's frame to bounds. It work with iOS 7 and gives no glitches.

// in MyTableHeaderView.xib drop an UIView at top of the first child of the owner
// first child becomes contentView

// in MyTableHeaderView.h
@property (nonatomic, weak) IBOutlet UIView * customBackgroundView;

// in MyTableHeaderView.m
-(void)layoutSubviews;
{
    [super layoutSubviews];

    self.customBackgroundView.frame = self.bounds;
}
// if you don't have XIB / use IB, put in the initializer:
-(id)initWithReuseIdentifier:(NSString *)reuseIdentifier
{
    ...
    UIView * customBackgroundView = [[UIView alloc] init];
    [self.contentView addSubview:customBackgroundView];
    _customBackgroundView = customBackgroundView;
    ...
}


// in MyTableViewController.m
-(UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    MyTableHeaderView * header = [self.tableView
                                          dequeueReusableHeaderFooterViewWithIdentifier:@"MyTableHeaderView"];
    header.customBackgroundView.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];
    return header;
}

iOS 8 +

func tableView(tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) {
        tableView.tableHeaderView?.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue()
}

在我的例子中，它是这样工作的:

let headerIdentifier = "HeaderIdentifier"
let header = self.tableView.dequeueReusableHeaderFooterView(withIdentifier: headerIdentifier)
header.contentView.backgroundColor = UIColor.white

希望UITableViewDelegate协议中的这个方法能让你开始:

objective - c:

- (UIView *) tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section 
{
  UIView *headerView = [[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, tableView.bounds.size.width, 30)] autorelease];
  if (section == integerRepresentingYourSectionOfInterest)
     [headerView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor redColor]];
  else 
     [headerView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
  return headerView;
}

迅速:

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView!, viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView!
{
  let headerView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: tableView.bounds.size.width, height: 30))
  if (section == integerRepresentingYourSectionOfInterest) {
    headerView.backgroundColor = UIColor.redColor()
  } else {
    headerView.backgroundColor = UIColor.clearColor()
  }
  return headerView
}

2017年更新:

斯威夫特3:

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView?
    {
        let headerView = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: tableView.bounds.size.width, height: 30))
        if (section == integerRepresentingYourSectionOfInterest) {
            headerView.backgroundColor = UIColor.red
        } else {
            headerView.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear
        }
        return headerView
    }

替换[UIColor redColor]与任何你想要的UIColor。您可能还希望调整headerView的尺寸。

如果有人需要斯威夫特，请保留头衔:

override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, viewForHeaderInSection section: Int) -> UIView? {
    let view = UIView(frame: CGRect(x: 0,y: 0,width: self.tableView.frame.width, height: 30))
    view.backgroundColor = UIColor.redColor()
    let label = UILabel(frame: CGRect(x: 15,y: 5,width: 200,height: 25))
    label.text = self.tableView(tableView, titleForHeaderInSection: section)
    view.addSubview(label)
    return view
}

我有一个项目使用静态表视图单元格，在iOS 7.x。willDisplayHeaderView不会触发。但是，这个方法是可行的:

- (UIView *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView viewForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section
{
    NSLog(@"%s", __FUNCTION__);
    CGRect headerFrame = CGRectMake(x, y, w, h);    
    UIView *headerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:headerFrame];  
    headerView.backgroundColor = [UIColor blackColor];