A wireless communication method, comprising: determining, by a terminal device, a pilot signal corresponding to at least one of a plurality of search sections of a control channel, wherein the pilot signal corresponding to each of the at least one search section has a quasi-co-location QCL association with a demodulation pilot of a control channel candidate in each search section, and different search sections in the plurality of search sections correspond to different types of pilot signals; and detecting, by the terminal device, the control channel candidate in the at least one search section based on the QCL association between the pilot signal corresponding to each of the at least one search section and the demodulation pilot of the control channel candidate in each of the at least one search section, wherein the plurality of search sections comprises a communal search section, and the pilot signal corresponding to the communal search section is a pilot signal of a first type; and the pilot signal of the first type is at least one of the following signals: a synchronization signal, a demodulation pilot of a broadcast channel, and a beam measurement pilot, and characterized by: sending, by the terminal device, a random access preamble to a network device; and receiving a random access response that is sent by the network device and that corresponds to the random access preamble, wherein the determining, by a terminal device, a pilot signal corresponding to at least one of a plurality of search sections of a control channel comprises: determining, as the pilot signal corresponding to the communal search section, a first pilot signal associated with the random access preamble sent by the terminal device, wherein the first pilot signal is the pilot signal of the first type. determining, by a terminal device, a pilot signal corresponding to at least one of a plurality of search sections of a control channel, wherein the pilot signal corresponding to each of the at least one search section has a quasi-co-location QCL association with a demodulation pilot of a control channel candidate in each search section, and different search sections in the plurality of search sections correspond to different types of pilot signals; and detecting, by the terminal device, the control channel candidate in the at least one search section based on the QCL association between the pilot signal corresponding to each of the at least one search section and the demodulation pilot of the control channel candidate in each of the at least one search section, wherein the plurality of search sections comprises a communal search section, and the pilot signal corresponding to the communal search section is a pilot signal of a first type; and the pilot signal of the first type is at least one of the following signals: a synchronization signal, a demodulation pilot of a broadcast channel, and a beam measurement pilot, and characterized by: sending, by the terminal device, a random access preamble to a network device; and receiving a random access response that is sent by the network device and that corresponds to the random access preamble, wherein the determining, by a terminal device, a pilot signal corresponding to at least one of a plurality of search sections of a control channel comprises: determining, as the pilot signal corresponding to the communal search section, a first pilot signal associated with the random access preamble sent by the terminal device, wherein the first pilot signal is the pilot signal of the first type. sending, by the terminal device, a random access preamble to a network device; and receiving a random access response that is sent by the network device and that corresponds to the random access preamble, wherein the determining, by a terminal device, a pilot signal corresponding to at least one of a plurality of search sections of a control channel comprises: determining, as the pilot signal corresponding to the communal search section, a first pilot signal associated with the random access preamble sent by the terminal device, wherein the first pilot signal is the pilot signal of the first type.