Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find the approximate solutions of unsteady squeezing nanofluid flow and heat transfer between two parallel plates in the presence of variable heat source, viscous dissipation and inclined magnetic field using collocation method (CM). Design/methodology/approach The partial governing equations are reduced to nonlinear ordinary differential equations by using appropriate transformations and then are solved analytically by using the CM. Findings It is observed that the enhancing values of aligned angle of the magnetic causes a reduction in temperature distribution. It is also seen that the effect of nanoparticle volume fraction is significant on the temperature but negligible on the velocity profile. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has been carried out considering the combined effects of inclined Lorentz forces and variable heat source on squeezing flow and heat transfer of nanofluid between the infinite parallel plates.