In this paper, global chaos synchronization is investigated for n-scroll Chua (Tang et al. in IEEE Trans Circ Syst I Fundam Theory Appl 48:1369–1372, 2001) and Lur’e (Suykens and Vandewalle in Int J Bifurc Chaos 7:1323–1325, 1997) chaotic systems using backstepping control with recursive feedback. Our theorems on synchronization for n-scroll Chua and Lur’e chaotic systems are established using Lyapunov stability theory. The backstepping scheme is a recursive procedure that links the choice of Lyapunov function with the design of a feedback controller and guarantees global stability performance of strict-feedback chaotic systems. Mainly the backstepping technique gives flexibility in designing a feedback control law. Numerical simulations are also given to illustrate and validate the synchronization results derived in this paper.