A component carrier management method which relates to the communication technical field includes determining one or more component carriers that are required to be added into a physical downlink control channel monitoring set; sending a component carrier activation or configuration message to a user equipment to indicate one or more component carriers that are required to be added into the physical downlink control channel monitoring set. Through the technical solutions, the PDCCH monitoring set of the UE may be managed when CCs are activated or configured, so that the UE may maintain the PDCCH monitoring set in real time, implement monitoring on the CCs in the monitoring set, and ensure a service requirement of the UE.