Embodiments of the invention provide a target detection method and apparatus. The method comprises the steps of obtaining an image shot by a video camera and performing regional division on the image according to a mounting angle of a camera head of the video camera to obtain at least one image block, wherein the mounting angle is an included angle between the camera head and a normal of the ground; according to the position of each image block in the image, determining a target detection algorithm of each image block; and according to the target detection algorithm of each image block, performing target detection on each image block. According to the target detection method and apparatus provided by the embodiments of the invention, the image is divided into the image blocks, the target detection algorithms different in zoom factor, detection precision or processing speed are set for the image blocks according to different positions of the image blocks in the image, and the target detection algorithm of the image block located on the edge of the image is set as an algorithm with general precision and relatively high processing speed, so that the target detection speed can be increased on the premise of not reducing the detection precision.