Embodiments of the present invention relate to the database field, and in particular, to a data transmission method and apparatus, so as to reduce overheads for data transmission between nodes in a distributed database and lighten network load. In the embodiments of the present invention, a DN determines a column that has a distribution rule of parameters in the column; the DN determines, according to a data type of the parameters of the column and the distribution rule of the parameters in the column, a compression algorithm corresponding to the column; the DN compresses the column using the compression algorithm; and the DN sends a compressed column to a target node. In this way, the overheads for the data transmission between the nodes are reduced, and the network load is lightened.