In this paper, an active backstepping design is proposed for controlling chaotic Genesio system to a steady state as well as tracking of any desired trajectory to be achieved in a systematic way. This method is also applied to achieve chaos synchronization of two identical Genesio system with each other. The proposed method, which is based on Lyapunov stability theorem, combines active control and backstepping methods. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the method.