In this paper, a nonlinear adaptive control method for an EMS(Electro-Magnetic Suspension) system with mass uncertainty is proposed. Using the coordinate transformation and feedback linearizing control, EMS system has been transformed into the form of parametric strict-feedback system with unknown virtual control coefficients. With this transformed system, tuning functions approach, which is an advanced from of adaptive backstepping, has been applied in order to stabilize the system against mass uncertainty. Computer simulation is also carried out in order to compare the performance of the proposed controller with that of feedback linerizing controller.