In this work we investigate the equilibrium configurations of white dwarfs in a modified gravity theory, namely, f (R, T ) gravity, for which R and T stand for the Ricci scalar and trace of the energy-momentum tensor, respectively. Considering the functional form f (R, T ) = R +2λT , with λ being a constant, we obtain the hydrostatic equilibrium equation for the theory. Some physical properties of white dwarfs, such as: mass, radius, pressure and energy density, as well as their dependence on the parameter λ are derived. More massive and larger white dwarfs are found for negative values of λ when it decreases. The equilibrium configurations predict a maximum mass limit for white dwarfs slightly above the Chandrasekhar limit, with larger radii and lower central densities when compared to standard gravity outcomes. The most important effect of f (R, T ) theory for massive white dwarfs is the increase of the radius in comparison with GR and also f (R) results. By comparing our results with some observational data of massive white dwarfs we also find a lower limit for λ, namely, λ > −3 × 10 −4 .