Magnetic levitation systems using the attraction force of electromagnets have many constraints according to the variation of air gap and the nonlinearity of electromagnetic force and inductances. As a result of these constraints, the nonlinear control of a magnetic levitation system has been improved by the latest advanced processors and accurate measurement system which can overcome problems such as many constraints and nonlinearity. This paper concentrates on the modeling of a nonlinear magnetic levitation system and an application of an exponential reaching law based sliding mode controller using the exponential reaching law which is one of the most robust controllers against external unexpected disturbances or parameter fluctuations. Controllability of a magnetic levitation system using the sliding mode control algorithm and robustness against parameter fluctuations have been verified through the experimental results.