Abstract The objective of this paper is to present a reliable approach to compute an approximate analytical solution of magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) Jeffery–Hamel flow by using a new modification of Adomian decomposition method. The approximate solution of this problem is calculated here in the form of a rapidly convergent series at one and both grid points. Results for velocity profiles in divergent and convergent channels are presented for different values of Hartmann and Reynolds numbers. The validity and applicability of this new technique are illustrated through a comparison between reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space Method (RKHSM) (Inc et al., 2013), Modified Homotopy Perturbation Method (MHPM) (Singh, 2014) and numerical solutions.