In this paper, we design a terminal sliding mode controller based on self-recurrent wavelet neural network (SRWNN) for the second-order nonlinear systems with model uncertainties. The terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) method can drive the tracking errors to zero within finite time in comparison with the classical sliding mode control (CSMC) method. In addition, the TSMC method has advantages such as the improved performance, robustness, reliability and precision. We employ the SRWNN to approximate model uncertainties. The weights of SRWNN are trained by adaptation laws induced from Lyapunov stability theorem. Finally, we carry out simulations for Duffing system and the wing rock phenomena to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.