A control channel transmission/reception method and apparatus is provided. The base station of the present invention transmits configuration information on a control channel to a terminal, checks an aggregation level for use in transmitting the control channel, maps Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) to resource elements in a resource block depending on the aggregation level, determines, when the resource elements of the DMRS correspond to a first resource element set, whether to map the DMRS to resource elements corresponding to a second resource element set in the resource block, and transmits the DMRS and control channel to the terminal according to the determination result.