In this paper the problem of noise suppression for a magnetic levitation system is addressed. The problem is cast as a nonlinear regulation problem and an internal model-based regulator able to offset the noise in spite of the presence of unknown parameters affecting the model of the system is designed. The controller is designed using nested saturation functions and is able to provide a global region of attraction. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the design. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.