A general and practical route to the synthesis of multisubstituted pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinolines has been described from 2-alkylazaarenes and nitroolefins using cerium chloride as a catalyst via a tandem Michael addition, cyclization and aromatization. This protocol features readily available starting materials, operational simplicity and high regioselectivity to access multifunctionalized pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinolines with the formation of multiple C–C and C–N bonds in one pot. In addition, various substitution patterns and functional groups were found to be compatible under the optimized conditions, which was lacking in the existing procedures.