Semi-active control devices have received significant attention in recent Years because they offer the adaptability of active-control devices without requiring the associated large power sources. Magnetorheological(MR) dampers are semiactive control devices that use MR fluids to produce controllable dampers. This paper applies sliding mode control method using target variation rate of Lyapunov function for the control of structures by use of MR dampers. The three-story building model under earthquake excitation is analyzed by installing a MR damper in the first-story. The performance of semi-active controllers designed by clipped-optimal algorithm and modified sliding mode control algorithm is compared to the performance of passive-type MR dampers. The results indicate that semi-active controllers achieve a greater reduction of responses than passive-type system and especially the controller by modified sliding mode control method shows a good applicability in the view of response control and control force.