The paper proposes a new type of robust speed control strategy for permanent magnet synchronous motor by using PD-sliding mode hybrid control. The PD control has a good performance in the transient region while the sliding mode controller provides the robustness against system uncertainties. Taking advantages of the two control strategies, the proposed control method utilizes the PD control in the approaching region to the sliding surface and the sliding mode control near at the sliding surfaces. The chattering problem of the sliding mode controller is eliminated by applying the saturation function for the switching function of the sliding mode control. The stability of the sliding mode control is verified by using Lyapunov function with the proper selection of variable gains. It is shown that with this simple switching algorithm, stability of the overall hybrid control system is ensured. Through the simulations, the PD-sliding mode algorithm is shown to have a good performance in the transient response as well as being robust against disturbances. The robustness of the PD-sliding mode algorithm is further demonstrated against various external disturbances in the real experiments of SPMSM motor control.