The invention relates to a method for establishing and applying a neighboring cell of a small cell and belongs to the mobile communication field. The method comprises the following steps: initially electrifying the small cell; after the small cell is electrified, firstly searching a nearby macro eNB, acquiring a synchronizing signal of the macro eNB, and synchronizing the small cell to the macro eNB; searching nearby small cell deployment condition according to self capability by the small cell, searching all the nearby small cells and macro eNBs, and arranging according to signal strength to form a neighboring cell list, wherein information of the neighboring cell list includes a cell frequency point ARFCN (absolute radio frequency channel number) and a cell identity; and after normal initial starting up of the small cell is completed, adding the searched neighboring cell list into a system message, and according to a message broadcasting process, periodically broadcasting the neighboring cell list of the small cell. The method provided by the invention is applicable to configuration of the neighboring cell list in a current highly dense small cell scene, better user experience is provided, a mobile terminal is prevented from starting a blind search process, and power consumption of a mobile terminal is reduced.