This work is focused on the problem of power system stability. A thorough description of nonlinear control strategies for synchronous generator excitation, which are designed for damping oscillations and improving transient stability on power systems, is presented along with a detailed comparison among these modern strategies and current solutions based on power system stabilizers. The performance related to damping injection in each controller, critical time enhancement, robustness against parametric uncertainties, and control signal energy consumption is analyzed. Several tests are presented to validate discussions on various advantages and disadvantages of each control strategy. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.