Heat and mass transfer in the flow of a viscous incompressible fluid along a vertical isothermal unsteady stretching sheet in the presence of heat generation and a transverse magnetic field is investigated. The governing equations of continuity, momentum, energy, and species concentration are transformed into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations and solved numerically by using the Runge–Kutta fourth‐order method with shooting technique. The velocity, temperature, and concentration distributions are discussed numerically and shown through graphs. The expressions of skin‐friction coefficient, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number at the sheet are discussed numerically and their variations are presented through tables. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 43(5): 447–458, 2014; Published online 3 October 2013 in Wiley Online Library (http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj). DOI 10.1002/htj.21088