This application provides a data route selection method and apparatus, and relates to the field of communications technologies, so as to resolve a problem of an excessively long transmission delay for an application program that initiates a data transmission request relatively later. The data route selection method includes: detecting, by a terminal, that information about an application matches a traffic descriptor; determining, by the terminal, a first route selection components for the application; and routing, by the terminal, traffic of the application on a first protocol data unit PDU session. The first PDU session matches the first route selection components. This application is applicable to a terminal.