Sub-synchronous control interaction (SSCI) is an oscillation phenomenon caused by the interaction of converter control and series-compensated transmission line. This paper proposes a novel adaptive higher-order sliding mode (AHOSM) control strategy for damping the SSCI of a series-compensated DFIG-based wind power system. On the basis of system modeling and oscillation mechanism analysis, SSCI suppression is converted to the current tracking control problem. Firstly, an auxiliary feedback control is employed for the nonlinear series-compensated system, then integral sliding mode functions are defined to design a second-order sliding mode control law for the equivalent system. Adaptive laws for the control gains are then conceived based on the Lyapunov function considering unknown upper bounds of uncertainty derivatives. System stability is also analyzed in detail along with adaptive laws’ design. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified under different series-compensated level, different wind speed, symmetric and asymmetric short circuit fault, and internal and external disturbances. The PI control and conventional first-order sliding mode control scheme are also executed to compare the damping effect.