The present work addresses the two-dimensional boundary layer flow of a Powell-Eyring fluid over a stretching cylinder with binary chemical reaction and Arrhenius Activation energy. Also, considered Cattaneo-Christov heat flux model in the place of conventional Fourier’s law of heat conduction. Suitable transforms lead to strongly nonlinear differential equations, which are solved through R-K method along with shooting scheme. The effects of various parameters are shown graphically on velocity, temperature and concentration fields. The numerical values for skin friction(RexXCf/2 ), local Nusselt(Nu x Re x -1/2 X -1 ) and Sherwood numbers(sh x Re x -1/2 X -1 are reported. A relative revision among the earlier published results and the present results for a special case is found to be in an excellent agreement. Rising the values of thermal relaxation time, reduces the temperature at near the cylinder due to domination of mixed convection in the flow. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.