In tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM), the vibro-contact response of a resonating tip is used to measure the nanoscale topology and other properties of a sample surface. However, the nonlinear tipsurface interactions can affect the tip response and destabilize the tapping mode control. Especially it is difficult to obtain a good scanned image of high adhesion surfaces such as polymers and biomolecules using conventional tapping mode control. In this study, theoretical and experimental investigations are made on the nonlinear dynamics and control of TM-AFM. Also we report the surface adhesion is an additional important parameter to determine the control stability of TM-AFM. In addition, we proved that it was adequate to use Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) contact model to obtain a reasonable tapping response in AFM for the soft and high adhesion samples.