This paper presents an overview of adaptive backstepping control for permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM). A combination of nonlinear control and adaptive mechanism is employed to ensure accurate tracking rotor speed, as well as direct current. Lyapunov-based design is used among this control strategy to enhance stability, even under uncertainties. The key advantage of adaptive backstepping mechanisms lies in their ability to adjust their parameters to compensate the variations in motor parameters, load fluctuations and external disturbances. The following study includes the state model of surface-mounted PMSM in the d-q frame, adaptive backstepping controller design to precisely estimate the stator resistance and magnetic flux on real-time, as well as the load torque, stability analysis. Several simulation scenarios in MATLAB/Simulink software tool are presented to validate the effectiveness of adaptive backstepping control, highlighting its potential as an effective control strategy for PMSM. The simulation results demonstrate the favorable dynamic performance of controller, providing accurate monitoring of rotor speed and currents, and disturbance rejections.