The steady, laminar boundary layer flow and heat transfer with radiation effects using the nonlinear Rosseland approximation induced in a quiescent, electrically conducting, visco-elastic fluid by a permeable surface stretched with velocity u(w)(x) = ax + cx(2) in the presence of a transverse magnetic field with heat source/sink are investigated. The problem only admits local-similarity results for a nonlinear stretched boundary surface with constant temperature (i.e., T = T(w)aty = 0 (T-w constant)). Two classes of visco-elastic fluid are considered, namely, the second-grade and Walters' liquid B fluids. A previously developed analytical solution for this flow, first used in Ref. [49], has been extended to analyze radiative nonlinear heat transfer. The effects of a transverse magnetic field, visco-elasticity, internal heat generation/absorption, suction/injection at the sheet, Prandtl number, power-law sheet velocity and thermal radiation onto heat transfer characteristics are widely analyzed. The results for the velocity and temperature field are presented through tables and graphs and discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.