To control nonlinear systems adaptively, we improve learning speed of neural networks and present a novel control algorithm characterized by compensation of control inputs. In an error-backpropagation algorithm for tranining multilayer neural networks(MLNN"s) the effect of the slope of activation functions on learning performance is investigated and the learning speed of neural networks is improved by auto-adjusting the slope of activation functions. The control system is composed of two MLNN"s, one for control and the other for identification, with the weights initialized by off-line training. The control algoritm is modified by a control strategy which compensates the control error induced by the indentification error. Computer simulations show that the proposed control algorithm is efficient in controlling a nonlinear system with abruptly changing parameters.