This paper deals with on-line state and parameter estimation of a reasonably large class of nonlinear continuous-time systems using a step-by-step sliding mode observer approach. The method proposed can also be used for adaptation to parameters that vary with time. The other interesting feature of the method is that it is easily implementable in real-time. The efficiency of this technique is demonstrated via the on-line estimation of the electrical parameters and rotor flux of an induction motor. This application is based on the standard model of the induction motor expressed in rotor coordinates with the stator current and voltage as well as the rotor speed assumed to be measurable.Real-time implementation results are then reported and the ability of the algorithm to rapidly estimate the motor parameters is demonstrated. These results show the robustness of this approach with respect to measurement noise, discretization effects, parameter uncertainties and modeling inaccuracies.Comparisons between the results obtained and those of the classical recursive least square algorithm are also presented. The real-time implementation results show that the proposed algorithm gives better performance than the recursive least square method in terms of the convergence rate and the robustness with respect to measurement noise.