This paper introduced a modal parameter based identification procedure to identify the equivalent system of structures under harmonic excitations. The developed identification technique assumed non-proportional hysteretic damping in the equivalent system, which would be applicable in identifying more general structures. By introducing quasi-modal parameter, modal analysis equation was decoupled under physical coordinate; hence, the modal parameters of each vibration mode are identified independently. Double iteration algorithm was developed to solve the derived non-linear identification equation with complex unknowns. The developed identification procedure was applied to identify the equivalent system of a numerical model in order to evaluate the feasibility of the technique in practice. The identification procedure was also applied to identify an experimental mass and bar rig for validation purpose. Identification results showed that the identification procedure could identify accurately and robustly the equivalent system with non-proportional hysteretic damping assumption; hence, it is likely to be applicable in the field. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.