In this paper, we address the problem of adaptive neural control for a class of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear time-delay systems in block-triangular form. Based on a neural network (NN) online approximation model, a novel adaptive neural controller is obtained by constructing a novel quadratic-type Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, which not only efficiently avoids the controller singularity, but also relaxes the restriction on unknown virtual control coefficients. The merit of the suggested controller design scheme is that the number of online adapted parameters is independent of the number of nodes of the neural networks, which reduces the number of the online adaptive learning laws considerably. The proposed controller guarantees that all closed-loop signals remain bounded, while the output tracking error dynamics converges to a neighborhood of the origin. A simulation example is given to illustrate the design procedure and performance of the proposed method. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.