In this paper we propose a compact split step Padé scheme (CSSPS) to solve the scalar higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation (HNLS) with higher-order linear and nonlinear effects such as the third and fourth order dispersion effects, Kerr dispersion, stimulated Raman scattering and power law nonlinearity. The stability of this method has been proved. It has been shown as well that the CSSPS method gives the same results as classical numerical methods like the split step Fourier method and Crank–Nicholson (CN) method but it presents many advantages over theme. It is more efficient. This proposed scheme is well suited to higher-order dispersion effects and readily generalized for nonlinear and dispersion managed fibers. We tested this scheme for the case of the quintic nonlinearity and confirmed that this effect has no significant role on the propagation of single solitons.