Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for controlling device-to-device discovery. The method includes: obtaining, by a network device, N first relay function parameter sets of N user equipment supporting a relay function; obtaining, by the network device, a second relay function parameter set of remote user equipment; determining, by the network device for the remote user equipment, at least one of the N user equipment supporting the relay function; and sending, by the network device, a first notification message to the at least one user equipment supporting the relay function, to trigger the at least one user equipment supporting the relay function to initiate a device-to-device discovery process.