Disclosed are a method for transmitting a reference signal, a network device, and a terminal device. The method comprises: the network device determines target resources for transmitting the reference signal, the target resource being some of transmission resources which can be used for transmitting the reference signal, and the target resources comprising at least one of frequency domain resources, time domain resources, and space domain resources; the network device transmits the reference signal to the terminal device on the target resources. According to the method for transmitting the reference signal, the network device, and the terminal device of embodiments of the present invention, energy saving of the network device can be realized, and meanwhile, interference between cells is avoided.