The present study explores the effects of thermal radiation, chemical reaction, viscous dissipation, Soret and Dufour on Marangoni convection over a steady and laminar boundary layer flow. A nanofluid, consisting of copper, silver, and alumina metallic nanoparticles suspended in water, is considered. Similarity transformations are used to solve the governing equations of motion. The transformed ordinary differential equations are then solved numerically using MATLAB ‘bvp4c’ residual method. The upshots of various physical properties influenced by Eckert, Nusselt, Sherwood, Soret, and Dufour numbers are delineated. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.