This paper presents a methodological approach to design observer-based adaptive sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear uncertain state-delayed systems with immeasurable states. A novel switching surface is proposed and a state observer is employed to reconstruct the sliding mode control action. The proposed method does not need a priori knowledge of upper bounds on the norm of the uncertainties, but estimates them by using the adaptation technique so that the reaching condition can be satisfied. Based on Lyapunov stability theorem and linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, the stability of the overall closed-loop nonlinear uncertain state-delayed system is guaranteed for the proposed control scheme under certain conditions. Furthermore, the state observer and control law can be constructed from the positive-definite solutions of two LMIs, and the design technique is simple and efficient. The validity of the proposed control methodology is demonstrated by simulation results.