The aim of this study was to explore university teachers' perceptions of creative teaching and other factors that may influence academics' efforts to teach creatively in higher education in Sweden. A qualitative case study was employed, interviewing 14 university teachers in three focus group interviews. The results show that the university teachers' perceptions of creative teaching differed slightly, yet were interconnected. They perceived creative teaching as an ability to engage students in learning, to solve problems in challenging teaching situations and introduce innovation or novelty into their teaching. The results also show that apart from personal attributes (e.g., imagination), environmental factors (e.g., departmental structure and culture) play an important role in enabling creative teaching practices.