This paper aims to study the effect of the elastic nonlocality on the transient waves in a two-dimensional thermoelastic medium influenced by thermal loading due to the laser pulse. The bounding plane surface is heated by a non-Gaussian laser beam. The problem is discussed under the Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity model and the Green-Naghdi (G-N) theory with and without energy dissipation. The normal mode analysis method is used to get the exact expressions for the physical quantities which illustrated graphically by comparison and discussion. The effects of nonlocality and different values of time on the displacement, the stresses, and the temperature were made numerically. All the computed results obtained have been depicted graphically and explained. Copyright © 2020 Techno-Press, Ltd.