A tracking reference signal (TRS) burst transmission method and apparatus wherein a transmit end determines to send a first TRS burst in the first slot in a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT), that is, the TRS burst is sent at a start moment of the MCOT, so that a receive end can obtain precise time-frequency synchronization as soon as possible. In addition, when a length of a first MCOT is greater than Y slots, in addition to sending the first TRS burst in the first slot in the MCOT, it is further determined to send a second TRS burst in a slot that is in the first MCOT and whose distance to a start slot of a previous TRS burst is Y slots, to improve effectiveness of the time-frequency synchronization and further improve the reliability of receiving the data at the receive end.