A timing synchronization is required in the mobile station to determine the correct transmission timing of the mobile-to-base bursts. In this letter, a timing synchronization technique using the reliability check and smoothing algorithm is proposed for the GSM receiver. The reliability check scheme extends the usefulness of this algorithm into low SNR region. And also smoothing algorithm is carried out by a first-order filter with an asymmetric step size. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is adequate for timing recovery of GSM modem.