The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for establishing a direct tunnel, which relate to the field of communications network technologies and can reduce the number of signaling messages that need to be processed on a GGSN or an SGW and reduce signaling load on the GGSN or the SGW. In the embodiments of the present invention, a mobility management network element determines that a character of a user terminal satisfies a preset condition for establishing a direct tunnel; a request message is sent to a gateway to establish a downlink direct tunnel between a radio access network and the gateway; and a response message sent by the gateway is received, where the response message is used to confirm that the downlink direct tunnel between the radio access network and the gateway has been successfully established.