The embodiments of the invention disclose a method and apparatus for enhancing a message identification capability, and relate to the technical field of communications. The method comprises: receiving a message; according to the message attribute of the message, obtaining at least one piece of forwarding sate information of the message; adding at least one first identification in the expansion information field of the message, the first identification being used for expressing the forwarding state information of the message; and sending the message to a master control single board so that the master control single board can conveniently identify the first identification and obtain the forwarding state information of the message. The method and apparatus provided by the invention are suitable for message forwarding inside network forwarding devices and between the network forwarding devices.