In many applications of DC motor speed control systems, PID controllers are mostly used. Such control schemes do not show good performance when input and load torque disturbances are applied. This paper shows that sliding mode (SM) can give better control due to its robust property but it has an unwanted chattering problem associated with it, which is harmful to the plant. To limit this problem a hybrid controller is presented in which a fuzzy controller is combined with the SM controller by a fuzzy supervisory system in such a way that the SM controller works in transient state and the fuzzy controller in steady state. The simulation results show that the SM controller is more robust when compared to PID and fuzzy control and hybrid control gives overall better system performance and reduced chattering when compared to SM control. Simulations are done using MATLAB software.