Slovakia travelled to Spain with a perfect record in qualifying but there was to be no repeat of their 2-1 victory when the sides met last year as Jordi Alba headed home from a superb David Silva ball inside five minutes.
Andres Iniesta then scored from the penalty spot on the half-hour after Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik was harshly adjudged to have brought down Diego Costa.
"We needed to win to put ourselves in a good situation. It's job done and now we need to think about the next match," Iniesta told Television Espanola, and Spain are top of the group before facing Macedonia on Tuesday.
Ukraine remain in contention after beating Belarus 3-1 with first-half goals from Artem Kravets, Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka, the latter a penalty.
Sergei Kornilenko scored a second-half penalty for the visitors and Ukraine ended the game with 10 men after Denys Garmash was dismissed in stoppage time, but Mykhailo Fomenko's men are now just three points behind Spain and Slovakia.
Elsewhere in Group C, Luxembourg registered a rare win as Sebastien Thill marked his international debut with a stoppage-time goal to beat Macedonia 1-0.
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