Techniques for supporting peer-to-peer (P2P) communication are disclosed. In an aspect, a device performs peer discovery based on trigger events. In one design, the device detects an event triggering peer discovery, which may be an application becoming active on the device, a change in the position of the device, the device being turned on, etc. The device performs peer discovery based on detection of the event triggering peer discovery. In one design, the device starts peer discovery in response to detecting the trigger event. In another design, the device changes at least one characteristic (e.g., the periodicity) of peer discovery in response to detecting the trigger event. In another design, a device determines an application becoming active on the device. The device transmits a query (e.g., in a proximity detection signal) to request for a service from a peer device to support the application.