In a surface type ac PDP having $200{mu}m$ gap between the surface electrodes, the luminous efficacy has a reciprocal dependence on the sustaining frequency. The discharge current flowing to the address electrodes are measured to investigate the phenomena and spectral intensity from visible light to infra red is measured to verify phosphor saturation with the frequency. Experiments show the discharge between the address and surface electrodes deteriorates the efficacy in high sustaining frequencies. Pulse width modulation is introduced to improve the efficacy. In optimum conditions, we obtained 1.99lm/w and 1.79lm/w at 200kHz and 250kHz, respectively.