The invention provides a heat dissipation method and a mobile terminal, and relates to the technical field of mobile terminals. The method comprises the steps of detecting an application scene of themobile terminal and a holding position of the mobile terminal; determining a heating source according to the application scene of the mobile terminal; determining a target heat dissipation module corresponding to the heating source according to the heating source and the holding position; and when the temperature of the area where the heating source is located is greater than a first preset temperature threshold, starting a target heat dissipation module corresponding to the heating source. According to the application scene of the mobile terminal and the position where a user holds the mobileterminal, automatic heat dissipation can be carried out on the area where one heating source is located or the areas where multiple heating sources are located in a self-adaptive mode; the heat dissipation effect is good; by arranging the target heat dissipation module corresponding to the heating source, heat dissipation can be conducted on the holding position, the holding position can also beheated, and the comfort degree of using the mobile terminal by a user is greatly improved.