A cell discovery method, device, and system are disclosed, which relate to the radio communications field, so as to purposefully perform small-scale search and measurement, thereby improving the search efficiency and saving power. The method includes: after receiving first radio frequency information of a handover area and second radio frequency information reported by a user equipment served by a cell of a first base station, detecting, by the first base station, whether the second radio frequency information matches the first radio frequency information; if match, sending a measurement instruction message to the user equipment that reports the second radio frequency information, so as to instruct the user equipment to measure signal strength and/or signal quality of a cell at a frequency of a cell of a second base station or only of the cell of the second base station. Solutions disclosed are used for cell search and discovery.