This paper presents a method to control the vibration of a cylindrical shell system. The cylindrical shell system consists of a polymeric film in the middle and one piezoelectric film on each side. The piezoelectric films are divided into several parts, some of which function as distributed actuators. Analysis of the shell vibration under periodic excitation is performed by means of the modal expansion method. A controller is designed based on H∞ control theory and the results of modal analysis. Numerical simulation and experiment were carried out using the designed controller and the results show good agreement, as well as the effectiveness of this method in suppression of forced vibration.