The invention provides a temporary address book setting method and apparatus. The method comprises: information of a strange phone number in a short message stored in a short message inbox of a communication terminal is extracted and information expressing a contact of the strange phone number in the short message is also extracted; the strange phone number and contact information are recorded into a temporary address book, wherein the strange phone number and the contact information correspond to each other one by one; and when the strange phone number needs to be displayed, the contact information corresponding to the strange phone number is displayed. In addition, the apparatus includes an extraction module, a recording module, and a display module; the extraction module is used for extracting information of a strange phone number in a short message and extracting the information of a corresponding contact; the recording module is used for recording the strange phone number and the contact information in a temporary address book; and the display module is used for displaying the corresponding contact information corresponding to the strange phone number when the strange phone number needs to be displayed. Therefore, information of a temporary contact can be gotten conveniently; and the user can get information of the temporary contact in the short message conveniently.