Considering the characteristics of valve controlled asymmetric cylinder system, a multiple sliding mode robust adaptive controller was designed. First, backstepping technique and state feedback linearization method were used to attain a multiple sliding mode controller. Next, based on Lyapunov stability theory, the uncertain parameters adaptation laws were presented and a robust adaptive controller combined with sliding mode method was designed to track piston displacement accurately. Experimental results show that the multiple sliding mode robust adaptive control approach has a strong robustness and enhances the tracking performance remarkably.