Works on the problems of adaptive control of continuous nonlinear plants without measurements of the output signal derivatives are reviewed. There are considered the synthesis methods, based on the theory of absolute stability and the conception of ″universal stabilisers″ as well as the methods allowing the use of the canonical forms of nonlinear plants representation. Only the continuous deterministic systems are considered. A characteristic feature of the works is the use of the special Lyapunov function for synthesis and analysis of the control algorithm.