A forwarding path selection method and device are disclosed. If a data packet to be sent to a target device is a start packet of a flowlet in which the data packet is located, a sender device selects a low-load path from a plurality of paths to forward the data packet, and sets a forwarding decision of a flow in which the data packet is located to the selected path, where load of each path is load of traffic received by a corresponding intermediate device from the sender device or load of traffic sent by a corresponding intermediate device to the target device, whichever is higher. Flowlet-based load balancing can be implemented only by providing related functions on one type of device.