A method, an apparatus and a system are provided, which relate to the communications field, for determining a transmission path of a packet, and can solve a problem that a determined transmission path of a packet is not accurate enough. The method includes determining, by a network device, a packet; acquiring, by the network device, a characteristic of the packet and an attribute of the packet according to the packet; and sending, by the network device, the characteristic of the packet, the attribute of the packet, and an attribute of the network device to a control device, so that the control device determines a transmission path of the packet according to the characteristic of the packet, the attribute of the packet, and the attribute of the network device.