Embodiments of the present invention disclose a SON-based terminal selection method related to the field of communications technologies, where a target terminal is selected pertinently to participate in implementation of a SON algorithm. The method provided by the embodiments of the present invention includes: determining a terminal selection criterion under a requirement of implementing different SON algorithms; and performing target terminal selection from managed terminals according to the terminal selection criterion. A system and a network entity corresponding to the method are also provided. By applying the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention, a target terminal can be selected pertinently to participate in implementation of the SON algorithm, which avoids waste of resources of terminals that do not need to participate in implementation of the SON algorithm, and improves user experience of these terminals.