The present disclosure relates to a pre-5th-generation (5G) or 5G communication system to be provided for supporting higher data rates beyond 4th-generation (4G) communication system such as a long term evolution (LTE). A method and apparatus for performing a relay communication are provided. A remote user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure is configured to acquire a first parameter related to relay load from each of a plurality of relay candidate UEs, to select a relay UE which will perform a relay communication with the remote UE from among the plurality of relay candidate UEs based on the first parameter acquired from each of the plurality of relay candidate UEs, and to perform the relay communication with the selected relay UE. The first parameter is generated based on cellular communication load between a base station (BS) connected to a corresponding relay candidate UE and the corresponding relay candidate UE.