The present invention discloses a method, a device, and a system for establishing a device-to-device connection and relates to the field of communications technologies. The method includes: sending, by a first device in D2D communication, a D2D authentication request to an MME that serves the first device, so as to trigger the MME to authenticate the first device; receiving, by the first device, an authentication response message transferred by the MME by using an eNB and enabling, according to the authentication response message, D2D monitoring and broadcasting functions; and, when the first device detects a second device in the D2D communication, sending, by the first device, a connection establishment request message to the eNB, so as to trigger the eNB to establish a D2D communication link between the first device and the second device. Thereby, a D2D connection between the two devices is controlled by a network. Therefore, an operator can effectively perform functions, such as control, management, and charging, on the D2D communication. In addition, compared with the prior art, after the D2D connection is established, because the network can be effectively controlled, interference brought by D2D communication to a UE can further be eliminated.