A packet forwarding method, an apparatus, and a system for service function chaining (SFC)-based packet forwarding are disclosed. The packet forwarding method performed by a first service function forwarding node includes receiving a packet forwarding rule from a control node, where the packet forwarding rule indicating a mapping relationship between a match item of traffic characteristic information of a packet and route prefix information; receiving a first packet, where a header of the first packet carries traffic characteristic information of the first packet; determining, based on the packet forwarding rule, target route prefix information corresponding to the traffic characteristic information of the first packet; determining target next-hop information based on the target route prefix information, and forwarding the first packet based on the target next-hop information.