The invention provides a multicast service receiving method, a multicast service sending method and devices. The methods include the following steps: configurations at a network side are received, anda terminal works or resides on a non-anchor carrier configured at the network side; and after the terminal receives an update prompt of a multicast control channel on the non-anchor carrier, the terminal switches to a pre-configured anchor carrier to receive multicast services that the terminal is interested in. According to the embodiment of the invention, the terminal actively switches from thenon-anchor carrier to the anchor carrier after receiving the update prompt of the multicast control channel on the non-anchor carrier and receives the multicast services on the anchor carrier; and the invention provides a method of how the terminal working on the non-anchor carrier receives the multicast services, the terminal can dynamically switch between the anchor carrier and the non-anchor carrier to receive the multicast services, and thus the load of the anchor carrier can be reduced, and the reception of the multicast services can be achieved.