This paper, presents a robust adaptive control method for a class of nonlinear non-minimum phase systems with uncertainties. The development of the control method comprises two steps. First, stabilization of the system is considered based on the availability of the output and internal dynamics of the system. The reference signal is designed to stabilize the internal dynamics with respect to the output tracking error. Moreover, a combined neuro-adaptive controller is proposed to guarantee asymptotic stability of the tracking error. Then, the overall stability is achieved using the small gain theorem. Next, the availability of internal dynamics is relaxed by using a linear error observer. The unmatched uncertainty is compensated using a suitable reference signal. The ultimate boundedness of the reconstruction error signals is analytically shown using an extension of the Lyapunov theory. The theoretical results are applied to a translational oscillator/rotational actuator model to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.