The maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for a photovoltaic (PV) system using the conventional methods suffers from being slow or inaccurate during sudden changes in irradiance and temperature. Artificial intelligent algorithms can overcome these drawbacks. However, these algorithms have high complexity in the design and implementation. Thus, the present work applies a Simplified Universal Intelligent PID Controller (SUI-PID) to extract the maximum power from a photovoltaic system with a solar pump as the load. The proposed SUI-PID controller was compared to the Fuzzy logic controller (FLC) under different operating conditions. The MATLAB/Simulink software package was utilized for the system simulation. Simulation results show that the proposed SUI-PID controller has 32.7% faster response with better rise time compare to the FLC. The SUI-PID controller offers additional advantages like the simplicity in design and implementation compared to other intelligent algorithms.