A sync signal detecting apparatus, a method thereof, and a Vestigial Side Band receiver employing the apparatus. The apparatus includes a correlator to compute one or more correlation values of the received signal, a starting point determiner to detect a location of a received signal having a maximum correlation value within an arbitrary period, and to determine a location a predetermined interval from the detected location as a starting point, a main signal detector to determine a signal having a value obtained by multiplying one of the correlation values by a predetermined number that is larger than the maximum correlation value as a main signal among signals during the arbitrary period, and a location detector to detect and provide a location of the main signal to the equalizer. Accordingly, performance of an equalizer can be maximized by determining the main signal variably according to characteristics of the equalizer.