This paper deals with utilizing a recursive fast terminal sliding mode control method for finite-time robust tracking in a class of nonholonomic systems described by an extended chained form of differential equations. To enhance the performance of the proposed method, the constrained parameters of the controller are exactly tuned using evolutionary algorithms such that the tracking error reaches zero in a short time while chattering is significantly reduced. A comparative study is also presented among the applied evolutionary algorithms, namely, differential evolution, bat optimization, cuckoo optimization and bacterial foraging optimization. Applying the proposed design method leads to a considerable reduction in convergence time of the states as well as the chattering phenomenon. It is shown that the method is robust against disturbance in the input of the system. Numerical simulations for a well-known nonholonomic system, i.e., wheeled mobile robot demonstrate effective improvement in the results compared with conventional terminal sliding mode control method.