The propagation delay in networks has a great adverse effect on rate-based traffic control. This paper proposes the composite control based on Dab lin algorithm feedback control and neural network feedforward predictive compensation online for ABR (available bit rate) communication in ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networks, which can overcome the adverse effect caused by the delay on the control rapidity and stability better. The theoretical analysis and simulation research show that the scheme can make sources respond to the changes of network status rapidly, avoid the congestion effectively and utilize the bandwidth sufficiently. Compared with PID (proportional-integral-derivative) control, cell loss rate is much lower, link utilization rate is much higher, and required buffer capacity is much smaller.