In this paper, an optimal PID sliding mode controller is proposed for the position control of electro-hydrostatic actuator(ERA) systems with system uncertainties and saturation in the motor. An ERA prototype is developed and system modeling and parameter identification are executed. Then, optimal PID and optimal anti-windup PID controller are designed based on identified system model by using optimization toolbox in MA TLAB/Simulink and the performance of the two control systems are compared by experiment. It was found that the optimal anti-windup PID control system has better performance than the optimal anti-windup PID control system.