This work is focused on the analytic solution of steady boundary layer axisymmetric flow of third-grade fluid over a continuously stretching cylinder in the presence of magnetic field. Suitable transformations are considered to reduce the partial differential equation into the ordinary differential equation. The obtained non-linear differential system is solved by homotopy analysis method (HAM). The effects of the emerging parameters such as third-grade parameter, secondgrade parameters and Reynolds number on the velocity are displayed and discussed. The expression of skin-friction coefficient is computed and presented. It is found that velocity and momentum boundary layer thickness are increasing functions of curvature parameter. Velocity profile is higher for third-grade fluid when compared with Newtonian and second-grade fluids with and without MHD effects for the cases (i) stretching cylinder and (ii) flat plate. ª 2015 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).