Disclosed are a system and method for controlling home appliances using a short message service. When receiving a short message including an access code from a mobile terminal, the home server checks the status of the connected home appliances and sends a short message including control codes corresponding to the status of the home appliances to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal checks the control codes to confirm the status of the home appliances, and displays corresponding images. When the user requests to control the status of a specific home appliance, the mobile terminal automatically generates a corresponding short message and sends the short message to the home server. The home server checks the message, controls the corresponding home appliance, and then sends a short message including current status information of the controlled home appliance to the mobile terminal.