In this paper, a variable structure PID controller with a good convergence rate and robustness for satellite attitude is proposed. In order to improve the system convergence rate, the variable structure for the proportional and differential term was designed, and an angular velocity curve with a better convergence rate was achieved by this variable structure. In addition, an integral partitioning algorithm was designed, and the system robustness to disturbance torque was improved; meanwhile, the negative effect of the integral term was avoided during the converging process. The actuator failure condition was also considered, and a fault tolerant control algorithm was designed. System stability was analyzed by the Lyapunov method, and its performance was demonstrated by numerical simulation.