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;
}

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。

如果你不想创建一个自定义视图，你也可以像这样改变颜色(需要iOS 6):

-(void) tableView:(UITableView *)tableView willDisplayHeaderView:(UIView *)view forSection:(NSInteger)section {
    if ([view isKindOfClass: [UITableViewHeaderFooterView class]]) {
        UITableViewHeaderFooterView* castView = (UITableViewHeaderFooterView*) view;
        UIView* content = castView.contentView;
        UIColor* color = [UIColor colorWithWhite:0.85 alpha:1.]; // substitute your color here
        content.backgroundColor = color;
    }
}

基于@Dj的回答，使用Swift 3。这在iOS 10上运行得很好。

func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, willDisplayHeaderView view: UIView, forSection section: Int) {
    // Background color
    view.tintColor = UIColor.black

    // Text Color
    let headerView = view as! UITableViewHeaderFooterView
    headerView.textLabel?.textColor = UIColor.white
}

如果你正在使用自定义头视图:

class YourCustomHeaderFooterView: UITableViewHeaderFooterView { 

override func awakeFromNib() {
    super.awakeFromNib()
    self.contentView.backgroundColor = .white //Or any color you want
}

}

你可以这样做，如果你想头部自定义颜色。自iOS 6.0以来，这个解决方案工作得很好。

Objective - C:

[[UITableViewHeaderFooterView appearance] setTintColor:[UIColor redColor]];

迅速:

UITableViewHeaderFooterView.appearance().tintColor = .white