The present disclosure provides a method and a device for controlling an active distribution network, relating to the field of power system operation and control technology. The method includes: creating a power loss objective function; determining first power flow equations; obtaining second power flow equations by performing linearization on the first power flow equations; determining a sub-scale adjustment model of a transformer; obtaining a linearized model of the transformer by performing linearization on the sub-scale adjustment model; obtaining control parameters by solving the power loss objective function according to the second power flow equations, the linearized model of the transformer, an operation constraint of the continuous reactive power compensator, an operation constraint of the grouping switching capacitor, an operation constraint of the distributed generator and a safety operation constraint in the active distribution network, such that the active distribution network is controlled by the obtained parameters to minimize power loss.