A method, a device, and a system are provided for recognizing a gesture based on multi-terminal collaboration, which are used to recognize an air gesture operation of a user in a multi-terminal collaboration scenario. The method includes receiving, by a first terminal after receiving a collaboration request activation signal, parameter information of second terminals; recording, by the first terminal according to the parameter information of the second terminals, an arrangement manner of terminals that participate in acquiring of gesture information, where the terminals that participate in the acquiring of the gesture information include all terminals or the second terminals; receiving, by the first terminal, sensor trigger information sent by at least one second terminal; and determining, by the first terminal according to the recorded arrangement manner and the acquired sensor trigger information, a type of a gesture that triggers a sensor.