We study the effect of different periodic excitations like sine, square, triangle and sawtooth waves on Chua's circuit and show that the circuit can undergo distinctly modified bifurcation structure, generation of new periodic regimes, induction of crises and so on. In particular, we point out that under the influence of different periodic excitations, a rich variety of bifurcation phenomena, including the familiar period-doubling sequence, intermittent route to chaos and period-adding sequences, reverse bifurcations, remerging chaotic band attractors, a large number of coexisting periodic attractors exist in the system. The analysis is carried out numerically using phase portraits, two-parameter phase diagrams in the forcing amplitude-frequency plane and one-parameter bifurcation diagrams. The chaotic dynamics of this circuit is also realized experimentally. © 2009 World Scientific Publishing Company.