Embodiments of the present disclosure include example device-to-device communication methods and terminal devices. One example method includes determining, by a terminal device, a first resource, where the first resource is some time-frequency resources in a first resource set, where the first resource set is all time-frequency resources that can be used to detect a first transmission resource. The first transmission resource is a spectrum resource used to transmit first data. The terminal device can then perform detection for the first transmission resource in the first resource. In some instances, the terminal device can then send first data on the first transmission resource.