A device-to-device (D2D) communication method and an apparatus where the method includes acquiring, by a first device, a communication signal resource and timing information of the communication signal resource, where the communication signal resource is used for D2D communication, and receiving, by the first device, on the communication signal resource according to the timing information of the communication signal resource, a communication signal sent by a second device, and using the D2D communication method and the apparatus provided in the present disclosure, synchronization between user devices for D2D communication can be implemented such that users located in different cells can use a D2D proximity service.