An improved rotor position observer based on sliding mode control was proposed to eliminate estimation error and harmonic ripples for PMSM sensorless control. A multi-proportional resonant filter was designed instead of a low-pass filter to filter out the specific harmonics of back EMF. The improved filter can solve the phase delay problem caused by a low-pass filter, eliminate the rotor angle compensator, simplify the system structure, and effectively suppress the system chattering. Then, a fractional normalized phase-locked loop was adopted to calculate the speed and rotor position, further eliminating the influence of noise. Compared with the traditional sliding mode control and the improved sliding mode control, the improved sliding mode observer can effectively suppress the back EMF chattering and reduce the speed estimation error. The correctness and effectiveness of the proposed improved sliding mode observer were verified through the simulation model and experimental platform of PMSM sensorless control.