Jason Puncheon, who had missed a penalty at Tottenham in spectacular fashion the previous weekend, was the match-winner, the winger capitalising on a mistake from Stoke's Oussama Assaidi to fire home in the 51st minute and lift his side out of the relegation zone.
Pulis, who spent 10 years at Stoke over two spells, described the odd experience of facing a side that he has become synonymous with.
"It was surreal for me," he said after the game at Selhurst Park.
"We had a wonderful 10 years together and I enjoyed it immensely. There are wonderful people there and we had wonderful times.
"My daughters and my wife are here today so it was surreal for me and my family."
The result moved Palace off the bottom of the Premier League table to 16th place, but Pulis was keen to point out that they could not afford to get carried away.
"This is not the defining moment," he said.
"That will be in the future so we've got to keep our feet on the ground. It's a pleasing result for us because we need to win home games and to get a clean sheet as well was good.
"I felt nervous in the last 10 minutes when they were putting balls in the box and you're just hoping and praying it doesn't fall for someone to score."
