In this paper, an approach to reduce the common-mode voltage and to eliminate narrow pulse for implemented AC-DC matrix converters is presented. An improved space vector modulation (SVM) strategy is developed by replacing the zero space vectors with suitable pairs of active ones. Further, while considering the commutation time, the probability of narrow pulse in the conventional and proposed SVM methods are derived and compared. The advantages of the proposed scheme include: a 50% reduction in the peak value of the common-mode voltage; improved input and output performances; a reduction in the switching loss by a reduced number of switching commutations and a simplified implementation via software. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the correctness of the theoretical analysis, as well as the feasibility of the proposed strategy.