A transaction processing method, comprising: receiving, by a processing node in a cluster including multiple processing nodes, latest global snapshot information sent by a central node in the cluster to each processing node according to a preset time interval, wherein the global snapshot information comprises a transaction identifier, so as to notify the processing node of a current running transaction in the cluster, and wherein the global snapshot information further comprises a snapshot version number, the snapshot version number is used to identify a version of the global snapshot information; storing, by the processing node, the received global snapshot information in a cache; sending, by the processing node in the cluster, a first update message to the central node in the cluster when the processing node starts processing a non-read-only transaction, wherein the first update message is used to instruct the central node to update, according to a fact that the processing node starts to process the non-read-only transaction, global snapshot information stored by the central node; processing, by the processing node, the transaction according to the global snapshot information stored in the cache without obtaining latest snapshot information from the central node; sending, to the central node when the processing node finishes processing the non-read-only transaction, a second update message that indicates an end of transaction processing of the processing node, so that the central node updates the global snapshot information according to the second update message; receiving, by the processing node, an acknowledgement message that is sent by the central node and that is used to indicate that the central node completes an update of the global snapshot information, wherein the acknowledgement message comprises updated global snapshot information; and comparing, by the processing node, a snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information in the acknowledgement message with the snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information stored in the cache, and updating, by the processing node, the global snapshot information stored in the cache to the global snapshot information in the acknowledgement message when the snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information in the acknowledgement message is higher than the snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information stored in the cache. receiving, by a processing node in a cluster including multiple processing nodes, latest global snapshot information sent by a central node in the cluster to each processing node according to a preset time interval, wherein the global snapshot information comprises a transaction identifier, so as to notify the processing node of a current running transaction in the cluster, and wherein the global snapshot information further comprises a snapshot version number, the snapshot version number is used to identify a version of the global snapshot information; storing, by the processing node, the received global snapshot information in a cache; sending, by the processing node in the cluster, a first update message to the central node in the cluster when the processing node starts processing a non-read-only transaction, wherein the first update message is used to instruct the central node to update, according to a fact that the processing node starts to process the non-read-only transaction, global snapshot information stored by the central node; processing, by the processing node, the transaction according to the global snapshot information stored in the cache without obtaining latest snapshot information from the central node; sending, to the central node when the processing node finishes processing the non-read-only transaction, a second update message that indicates an end of transaction processing of the processing node, so that the central node updates the global snapshot information according to the second update message; receiving, by the processing node, an acknowledgement message that is sent by the central node and that is used to indicate that the central node completes an update of the global snapshot information, wherein the acknowledgement message comprises updated global snapshot information; and comparing, by the processing node, a snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information in the acknowledgement message with the snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information stored in the cache, and updating, by the processing node, the global snapshot information stored in the cache to the global snapshot information in the acknowledgement message when the snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information in the acknowledgement message is higher than the snapshot version number comprised in the global snapshot information stored in the cache.