This paper deals with the speed control of switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives taking into account the effects of the mutual inductances between two adjacent phases and the effects of the magnetic saturation of the core. To overcome the problems commonly associated with single-phase excitation, a non-linear SRM model, which is suitable for two-phase excitation and which takes into account the effects of mutual inductances between two adjacent phases and the magnetic saturation effects, is considered in the design of the proposed controllers. A feedback linearization control scheme and a sliding mode control scheme are designed for this motor drive. The proposed controllers guarantee the convergence of the phase currents and the rotor speed of the motor to their desired values. Simulation results indicate that the proposed controllers work well and that they are robust to changes in the parameters of the system and to changes in the load torque. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.