In this paper, the problem of reliable passive control is investigated for singular systems with time-varying delays. The aim of the addressed reliable passive control problem is to design a state feedback controller such that, for all possible actuator failures, the resultant closed-loop system is regular, impulse-free, exponentially stable, and passive. A delay-dependent condition is established to guarantee the considered system to be regular, impulse-free, exponentially stable, and passive. Based on the derived condition, the reliable passive control problem is solved, and an explicit expression for the desired controller is given. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of our results. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.