An under-fire Zinedine Zidane made just two alterations from the loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions' League group stages in Carlos Casemiro and Vinicius Junior.
Los Blancos nearly had an ideal start seconds in from an effort at the near post by Vinicius following good initiative out wide from Lucas Vazquez, but the Brazilian failed to put the icing on the cake.
Toni Kroos almost cracked the top corner 20 minutes later with a curling strike from the edge of the six-yard area, but watched the effort flash past the intended target.
Real still enjoyed the better passages of play up front minutes before halftime with a curling shot in the area from Karim Benzema bringing Yassine Bounou to a one-handed stretch.
Oliver Torres came on for Munir El Haddadi before the start of the second half, as Los Blancos kept their initial starting eleven intact.
This patience from the visitors paid dividends ten minutes in the restart when a square ball from Ferland Mendy found Vinicius, who deflected the supply off Bounou and into the net.
The away side started to form a defensive block on the edge of the area, as Suso narrowly missed the far corner with a well-taken curler from out wide 12 minutes to the end.
Sevilla launched another big scare in the last three minutes with an overhead kick from Lucas Ocampos in the area, but Thibaut Courtois got down to parry.
Los Blancos pushed for a strong finish through Vincius amongst others, but managed to get back to victory nonetheless after surviving the remaining minutes.