Embodiments of the present invention disclose a channel quality index measurement method and apparatus. The method includes: determining, by a base station, a target CSI-RS on each of time-frequency resources corresponding to resource numbers of a terminal, where the target CSI-RS is a precoded CSI-RS, and the time-frequency resource is a resource element used to transmit the CSI-RS or the target CSI-RS; sending, by the base station, the target CSI-RS on each of the time-frequency resources corresponding to the resource numbers to the terminal on the time-frequency resource; sending, by the base station to the terminal, indication information used to indicate the resource numbers of the terminal; and receiving, by the base station, a CQI that is sent by the terminal and that is used to indicate channel quality.