diff --git a/modules/ui/hl-todo/autoload.el b/modules/ui/hl-todo/autoload.el
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7aaa8b3bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/ui/hl-todo/autoload.el
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+;;; ui/hl-todo/autoload.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
+
+;;;###autoload
+(defun +hl-todo|use-face-detection ()
+  "Use a different, more primitive method of locating todo keywords.
+
+This is useful for major modes that don't use or have a valid syntax-table entry
+for comment start/end characters."
+  (set (make-local-variable 'hl-todo-keywords)
+       `(((lambda (limit)
+            (let (case-fold-search)
+              (and (re-search-forward hl-todo-regexp limit t)
+                   (memq 'font-lock-comment-face (doom-enlist (get-text-property (point) 'face)))))
+            (1 (hl-todo-get-face) t t))))))
diff --git a/modules/ui/hl-todo/config.el b/modules/ui/hl-todo/config.el
index 49521b7eb..8321cfc90 100644
--- a/modules/ui/hl-todo/config.el
+++ b/modules/ui/hl-todo/config.el
@@ -7,4 +7,10 @@
   (setq hl-todo-keyword-faces
         `(("TODO"  . ,(face-foreground 'warning))
           ("FIXME" . ,(face-foreground 'error))
-          ("NOTE"  . ,(face-foreground 'success)))))
+          ("NOTE"  . ,(face-foreground 'success))))
+
+  ;; Use a more primitive todo-keyword detection method in major modes that
+  ;; don't use/have a valid syntax table entry for comments.
+  (add-hook!
+    (pug-mode haml-mode)
+    #'+hl-todo|use-face-detection))