The effect of viscous dissipation and thermal radiation on mixed convective heat transfer of an MHD Williamson nanofluid past a stretching cylinder in the existence of chemical reaction is analyzed in this study. When energy equation is formulated, the variable thermal conductivity is deliberated. By proposing applicable similarity transformations, nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are attained from partial differential equations. These nondimensional ODEs are computed through Runge‐Kutta method integrated with shooting method using MATLAB software. The results found numerically are in agreement with that of the published works of similar nature in a limiting case. The results of the local Nusselt number, skin friction coefficient, and Sherwood numbers are organized in tables. The influence of protuberant parameters on temperature, velocity, and concentration is presented by graphs. From the results, it is seen that for higher values of variable thermal conductivity parameter, the local Sherwood number and skin friction coefficient upsurge, whereas the local Nusselt number diminishes.