In order to solve the tracking problem of oscillation displacement system of continuous casting mold driven by a servo motor in the present of the time‐varying load, parameter uncertainties, unknown dynamics and external disturbances, a robust iterative learning control (ILC) via adaptive backstepping is proposed in this paper. Firstly, backstepping technique is used to design controller due to the mismatched disturbances. Secondly, the periodic component of the lumped disturbances is estimated by ILC method, while the aperiodic component is attenuated by switching term with adaptive gain. In addition, a time‐varying boundary layer approach is employed to overcome the identical initial condition limitation of the ILC. Through a proper composite energy function, the convergence of the closed‐loop system is analyzed. Finally, simulation and experimental results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.