The invention relates to a neighbor cell detecting method, which is characterized by arranging a distance threshold and arranging neighbor cell detecting timers and detection pausing timers respectively for neighbor cells to be tracked. The method comprises that: when a terminal accesses a network, the network side informs the terminal of information of a neighbor cell to be measured and orders the terminal to measure the neighbor cell; the terminal measures the neighbor cell, and starts a neighbor cell detecting timer corresponding to each neighbor cell according to the acquired neighbor cell information, and uses the current position of the terminal as an initial detecting position; and the terminal controls neighbor cell measuring time and detection pausing time according to a terminal displacement distance, the distance threshold and timing length of the detecting timer and the detection pausing timer corresponding to each neighbor cell. The terminal performs intermittent measurement on each neighbor cell by the neighbor cell detecting method, so that system resources and terminal power are saved, and the terminal can effectively track the neighbor cells.