This brief further explores the problem of finite-time synchronization of delayed recurrent neural networks with the mismatched parameters and neuron activation functions. An improved sliding mode control approach is presented for addressing the finite-time synchronization problem. First, by employing the drive-response concept and the synchronization error of drive-response systems, a novel integral sliding mode surface is constructed such that the synchronization error can converge to zero in finite time along the constructed integral sliding mode surface. Second, a suitable sliding mode controller is designed by relying on Lyapunov stability theory such that all system state trajectories can be driven onto the predefined sliding mode surface in finite time. Moreover, it is found that the presented control approach can be conveniently verified and does not need to solve any linear matrix inequality (LMI) to guarantee the finite-time synchronization of delayed recurrent neural networks. Finally, three numerical examples are exploited to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented control approach.