This paper provides a formulation for using the delta-operator in the modelling of non-linear systems. It is shown that a unique representation of a deterministic non-linear auto-regressive with exogenous input (NARX) model can be obtained for polynomial basis functions using the delta-operator and expressions are derived to convert between the shift- and delta-domain. A delta-NARX model is applied to the identification of a test problem (a Van-der-Pol oscillator): a comparison is made with the standard shift operator non-linear model and it is demonstrated that the delta-domain approach improves the numerical properties of structure detection, leads to a parsimonious description and provides a model that is closely linked to the continuous-time non-linear system in terms of both parameters and structure. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.