A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication system. A transmitter that includes a plurality of transmit antennas selects one of a spatial multiplexing scheme and a spatial diversity scheme, processes a signal in the selected transmission scheme, and transmits the signal through the plurality of transmit antennas. A receiver that includes a plurality of receive antennas processes a signal in a reception scheme mapped to a transmission scheme of the transmitter. The transmission schemes include a transmission scheme for maximizing diversity gain and a transmission scheme for maximizing spectral efficiency. The MIMO communication system using an adaptive transmission mode switching technique performs switching between MIMO transmission modes using spatial selectivity of a channel, thereby obtaining maximum gain in a signal to noise ratio (SNR) and spectral efficiency according to channel state.