The present invention provides a method, an apparatus, and a system for deploying a service flow forwarding function. The method includes: sending, by a control plane network element, a notification message to an infrastructure controller, the notification message includes at least one forwarding identifier corresponding to a user service flow and includes an identifier of a target forwarding plane network element providing service processing for the user service flow; the notification message is used to instruct the infrastructure controller to determine a first forwarding rule including the at least one forwarding identifier and the identifier of the target forwarding plane network element and send the first forwarding rule to an infrastructure forwarder controlled by the infrastructure controller. The present invention is used for service flow forwarding, resolves a problem that flexibility of service flow forwarding is relatively low, and achieves an effect of improving flexibility of service flow forwarding.