Based on Hamiltonian formulation, this paper proposes a design approach to nonlinear feedback excitation control of synchronous generators with steam valve control, disturbances and unknown parameters. It is shown that the dynamics of the synchronous generators can be expressed as a dissipative Hamiltonian system, based on which an adaptive H-infinity controller is then designed for the systems by using the structure properties of dissipative Hamiltonian systems.Simulations show that the controller obtained in this paper is very effective.