Remove highlight on press in tablayout

Add the below line to your XML:

app:tabRippleColor="@android:color/transparent"

just set the background color to transparent or to the background color of the tablayout. Add the following code to the parent layout.

 xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"

And add the following to tablayout.

app:tabBackground="?attr/colorPrimary"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"

This will solve your problem. Tested in Android M.