Control of nonlinearities

Hi, This may qualify as a dumb question but here goes. I'll shortly be working on a SISO loop that contains a nonlinearity that's causing the problem (real world application, process industries). The nonlinearity is likely to be definable to a degree and severe enough to invalidate linear techniques, the other characteristics of the loop are likely to be common dynamics. My normal approach would be to simulate the system and try various approaches, to reduce the amount of plant trialling. However, I'm wondering whether there exists a 'cookbook' of techniques for dealing with 'common' nonlinearities in regulatory loops. Any suggestions? TIA