The Sm154(t→, α) Pm153 reaction has been studied using a 17 MeV beam of polarized tritons from the tandem Van de Graaff accelerator at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The α spectra were recorded using a quadrupole-dipole-dipole-dipole magnetic spectrometer with a position-sensitive helical-cathode detector on the focal plane. Spectra were obtained to excitation energies > 2 MeV with a resolution of ∼ 17 keV. It was possible to assign spins and parities to many of the levels by comparing the measured angular distributions of cross sections and analyzing powers with distorted-wave Born-approximation predictions. The results are interpreted in terms of the Nilsson model with pairing and Coriolis mixing effects included. The 52-[532], 52+[413], 32+[411], and 12+[420] bands have been observed, as well as the 32-[541] and 32+[422] orbitals, which appear to be strongly Coriolis mixed with the 12-[550] and 12+[431] states, respectively. The results of these experiments confirm some of the assignments from a recent (d, He3) study and show that others were incorrect. Spectroscopic factors for the strongest transitions are in good agreement with expectations based on the model. The ground state Q value for the Sm154(t, α)Pm153 reaction was measured to be 10.748±0.020 MeV. NUCLEAR REACTIONS Sm154(t→, α)Pm153, E=17 MeV, measured σ(Eα, θ), Ay(Eα, θ), Q value. Pm153 deduced levels, I, π, Nilsson assignments, enriched target.