In this paper, we apply He’s variational iteration method (VIM) coupled with an auxiliary parameter and Adomian’s polynomials which proves very effective to control the convergence region of approximate solution. The proposed algorithm is tested on generalized Hirota–Satsuma coupled KdV equation and numerical results explicitly reveal the complete reliability, efficiency and accuracy of the suggested technique. It is observed that the approach may be implemented on other nonlinear models of physical nature.