A spectral problem and an associated hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations are presented in this article. In particular, the reductions of the two representative equations in this hierarchy are given: one is the nonlinear evolution equation rt=−αrx−2iαβ‖r2‖r which looks like the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, the other is the generalized derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation rt= 1/2iαrxx−iα‖r‖2r−αβ(‖r‖2r)x −αβ‖r‖2rx−2iαβ2‖r‖4r which is just a combination of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation and two different derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equations [D. J. Kaup and A. C. Newell, J. Math. Phys. 19, 789 (1978); M. J. Ablowitz, A. Ramani, and H. Segur, J. Math. Phys. 21, 1006 (1980)]. The spectral problem is nonlinearized as a finite-dimensional completely integrable Hamiltonian system under a constraint between the potentials and the spectral functions. At the end of this article, the involutive solutions of the hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations are obtained. Particularly, the involutive solutions of the reductions of the two representative equations are developed.