Provided is a symbol synchronization apparatus and method of a passive RFID reader. The symbol synchronization apparatus includes: an edge clock detector generating edge clocks by detecting phase inversion positions of a received signal; a preamble detector detecting a preamble section by analyzing the generation times of the edge clocks; a symbol decision time extractor extracting a symbol decision time by averaging distances between the edge clocks consecutively generated in the preamble section, when the preamble section is detected; and a symbol decider deciding a symbol by analyzing the magnitude of the received signal, when the time reaches the symbol decision time.