The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for handover preparation. The method includes: receiving, by a DeNB, a first handover request message sent by an RN; obtaining, by the DeNB, the first target cell identifier, and instructing a base station to which the first target cell belongs to perform handover preparation in the first target cell; receiving, by the DeNB, a second handover request message sent by the RN; and when a base station to which the second target cell belongs is different from the base station to which the first target cell belongs, instructing, by the DeNB, the base station to which the second target cell belongs to perform handover preparation in the second target cell. Embodiments of the present invention further disclose corresponding apparatuses.