This paper presents a robust control method combining the conventional proportional–integral–derivative (PID) scheme and the sliding mode fuzzy control scheme for a second-order non-linear system having uncertainties in the system dynamics. The goal of the proposed scheme is to force the response of the uncertain plant to follow that of the nominal model. The first phase of the design approach is to obtain a nominal PID controller for the nominal plant model. The poor performance of the sole PID scheme on the uncertain non-linear system motivates the proposal of the technique discussed here. To compensate for the deficiencies in the unit step response of the uncertain system, a fuzzy compensation scheme based on sliding mode control (SMC) is proposed and the PID loop is augmented by the proposed approach. It is shown that the performance with the proposed scheme is better than the sole PID-based control system. With the proposed technique, the response of the uncertain system converges to of the nominal system with admissible controller outputs. Furthermore, simulation results show that the proposed method produces consistent results even with noisy measurements.