Disclosed are an apparatus and method for detecting optical signals. The optical signal detection apparatus includes: a signal receiver to convert a received optical signal into an electrical signal; a threshold decision unit to establish a mathematical model based on the electrical signal and to decide an optimized threshold value based on the mathematical model; and a signal detector to detect the electrical signal based on the optimized threshold value. Hence, since threshold values optimized adaptively according to received signals are used, a bit error rate may be lowered and accordingly detection performance may be improved.