To detect the fault of the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG), in this paper, a fault detection method of novel sliding mode observer is proposed, without a velocity sensor. In addition to better elimination of chattering for the new sliding mode observer, at the same time, it has better stability and faster convergence speed than the traditional sliding mode observer. Firstly, the sliding mode observer is built according to the mathematical model of the DFIG. Then, the rotor current and the rotational speed are estimated. After comparing the actual rotor current value with the observed value, the self-detection of the fault for the DFIG is realized. Secondly, three faults of grid voltage sags failure, DFIG inter-turn stator fault and rotor current sensor fault are given respectively. After that the Simulink simulation model is built under different fault conditions. It is proved by simulation that this sliding mode observer can well detect faults occurring at different positions. Additionally, it can also be proved that the sliding mode observer has the characteristics of fast response and good stability.