In order to realize the bottom-following control for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) under
the ocean current, an increment feedback control method based on nonlinear iterative sliding mode control is presented for path following. The path following error equation in vertical plane is established based on virtual guide method. Then an increment feedback control law is designed based on iterative sliding modes without the uncertainty of AUV model and ocean current disturbances’ estimating. The problem of chattering by the hydroplane is circumvented, and the static error and overshoot by output feedback control are decreased. The results of simulation experiments show that the controller is robust against the systemic variations and disturbances, and the parameters are easy to be adjusted.