In ad‐hoc wireless networks, to achieve good performance, multiple parameters need to be optimized jointly. However, existing literature lacks a design framework that investigates the synchronic impact of several parameters on overall system performance. Among several design parameters, energy conservation, end‐to‐end delay minimization, and improved throughput are considered most important for efficient operation of these networks. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme for multiple‐objective cross‐layer optimization capable of optimizing all these performance objectives simultaneously for reliable, energy‐efficient, and timely transmission of continuous media information across the network. The three global criteria considered for optimization are incorporated in a single programming problem via linear scalarization. Besides, we employ standard convex optimization method and Lagrangian technique to solve the proposed problem to seek optimality. Extensive simulation results are generated accounting for several topologies with multiple concurrent flows in the network. These results are used to validate the analytical results and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed optimization model. Efficiency of the model is verified by finding the set of Pareto‐optimal solutions plotted in three‐dimensional objective space. These solution points constituting the Pareto front are used as the best possible balance points among maximum throughput, maximum residual energy, and least network delay. Finally, to emphasize the effectiveness and supremacy of our proposed multiple‐objective cross‐layer design scheme, we compare it with the conventional multiple‐objective genetic algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that our method provides significant performance gain over the genetic algorithm approach in terms of the above specified three objectives.