A method and an apparatus for transmitting virtual local area network information. The method comprises: sending virtual local area network information, the virtual local area network information comprising a valid virtual local area network identifier (VID) determined according to one or more VID selection rules, or, the virtual local area network information comprising types of one or more VID selection rules and a parameter of a VID selection range indicated by each VID selection rule. By comprehensively applying a rule such as an inclusion rule, an odd-even rule, or an exclusion rule to simplify configuration of the VLAN information, and in combination with a node, an aggregation interface, a sub-interface, and a distributed link aggregation group identifier (D-LAG-ID), service traffic may be flexibly assigned, consecutive VLAN information is compressed during encoding, and special encoding is performed for different information, thereby reducing information traffic during protocol interaction.