The present invention discloses an overload control method, a gateway device, a mobility management entity, and a PGW. The method includes: determining, by a gateway device, first overload indication information, where the first overload indication information is used to indicate an overload control policy; and sending, by the gateway device, the first overload indication information to a mobility management entity, so that the mobility management entity executes the overload control policy according to the first overload indication information. According to the overload control method, the gateway device, the mobility management entity, and the PGW in embodiments of the present invention, adverse impact brought by device overload can be avoided; therefore, the device overload can be effectively controlled.