The present invention relates to a method for generating a reference signal, including: obtaining first control information, where the first control information indicates or includes cyclic shift related information which is used by a terminal belonging to a serving cell to send a reference signal; and sending the first control information to the terminal belonging to the serving cell, so that the terminal belonging to the serving cell generates the reference signal according to the cyclic shift related information which is indicated or included by the first control information and used by the terminal to send the reference signal, where a variation rule of a cyclic shift which the terminal belonging to the serving cell uses to generate the reference signal is the same as that of a cyclic shift which a terminal belonging to a coordinated cell uses to generate the reference signal.