The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for bit and power allocation and a communication system. The method for bit and power allocation comprises: determining a set of candidate modulation modes for sub-channels; constructing an SNR lookup table according to a predetermined target BER, the SNR lookup table containing a relationship of an SNR and the number of bits corresponding to a modulation mode in the set of candidate modulation modes at the target BER; obtaining normalized SNRs on the sub-channels; initializing the numbers of bits for the sub-channels; initializing powers for the sub-channels according to the numbers of bits for the sub-channels, the normalized SNRs on the sub-channels and the SNR lookup table; and adjusting the numbers of bits and the powers for the sub-channels in accordance with a principle of maximizing power utilization rate, to obtain the result of the bit and power allocation for the sub-channels.