In this paper, we propose a robust path tracking control method for autonomous underwater vehicle with variable speed. The proposed path tracking controller consists of a kinematic controller and a dynamic controller. First, the kinematic controller computes the surge speed and yaw rate to follow the reference path with variable speed. Then the dynamic controller controls the thrust force and yaw torque to move the AUV actually. In the dynamic control, we assume that the sway speed is a disturbance. In addition the dynamic controller is designed based on sliding mode conrol. We also demonstrate the stability of the proposed control method by Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed control method.