A method and system for minimizing the battery power consumption of user equipment (UE) during inter-frequency cell detection in a heterogeneous network is disclosed. A serving cell in the heterogeneous network provides a relaxed cell detection indication to the UE on a specified frequency for cell detection. The UE applies the relaxed cell detection for detecting the cells on the specified frequency. During inter-frequency cell detection on specified frequency, the UE discards some normal measurement gaps. The inter-frequency cell detection is delayed as compared to normal cell detection time requirement using the normal measurement gaps. The UE deactivates the relaxed detection indication, upon detecting the inter-frequency cell and performs the continuous RSRP and RSRQ measurements for detected inter-frequency cell using all the normal measurement gaps to meet normal measurement accuracy and measurement reporting requirement.