Unsteady mixed convection flow over a rotating vertical slender cylinder under the combined effects of buoyancy force and thermal diffusion with injection/suction has been studied where the slender cylinder is inline with the flow. The effect of surface curvature is also taken into account, especially for the applications such as wire and fiber drawing, where accurate predictions are desired. The governing boundary layer equations along with the boundary conditions are first converted into dimensionless form by a non-similar transformation, and then resulting system of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations is solved by an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasi-linearization technique. The effects of various parameters on velocity and temperature profiles and on skin friction coefficients and heat transfer rate at the wall are reported in the present study. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.