Disclosed herein is a control method of a washing machine which minimizes damage to laundry to be washed. The control method includes executing a washing cycle to wash laundry to be washed by supplying wash water, dissolving detergent in wash water and washing the laundry, executing a rinsing cycle to rinse the laundry by draining wash water, spin-drying the laundry, and rinsing the laundry, and executing a spin-drying cycle to spin-dry the laundry by draining wash water and spin-drying the laundry, wherein the dissolving of the detergent is carried out at a water level lower than a predetermined reference water level.