A method and an apparatus for sending a Precoding Matrix Index (PMI) and performing precoding are provided in the embodiments of the present invention. The method for sending the PMI comprises the following steps: a user equipment acquires the transmission channel capability of carrying the PMI; according to the transmission channel capability of carrying the PMI, the precoding matrices are selected from a locally-stored first codebook set to form a second codebook set; a first precoding matrix is selected from the second codebook set; an index corresponding to the first precoding matrix is sent to a base station over the transmission channel so as to make the base station can find out the first precoding matrix according to the index and precode the data according to the first precoding matrix. The embodiments of the present invention can realize the flexible configuration and use of the PMI.