A candidate control channel resource determining method and apparatus are provided. Under the method, a first and a second aggregation level can be determined by a terminal. The aggregation level is a quantity of control channel resource elements in a candidate control channel. The first aggregation level is less than the second aggregation level. Control channel resource elements in a candidate control channel set corresponding to the second aggregation level form a first quantity of candidate control channel sets corresponding to the first aggregation level. One of the first quantity of candidate control channel sets corresponding to the first aggregation level can be determined as a target set based on an identifier of the terminal. A control channel resource element occupied by each candidate control channel in the target set can be determined. A candidate control channel in the target set can be detected for a received signal.