This application discloses a method and an apparatus for updating a manner of processing a packet of a service flow. The method includes a first packet of the service flow is forwarded by using a first service function chain (SFC). A control node obtains a flow identifier and indication information from a service function (SF) node of the first SFC, where the indication information is used to indicate a manner of processing a second packet of the service flow, the flow identifier is used to identify the service flow. The control node obtains the manner of processing the second packet according to the indication information, and sends the flow identifier and the manner of processing the second packet to the processing node, where the manner of processing the second packet does not include forwarding the second packet along the first SFC.