An experimental and theoretical study on the effect of boundary layer suction on the laminar–turbulent transition process has been carried out. In the study an asymptotic suction boundary layer was established in a wind tunnel with a free-stream velocity of 5.0 m s$^{-1}$. Wall-normal suction (suction velocity 1.44 cm s$^{-1}$) was applied over a large area and the boundary layer was nearly constant over a length of 1800 mm. Measurements were made both with and without suction so comparisons between the two cases could easily be made. Measurements of the development of the mean velocity distribution showed good agreement with theory. The Reynolds number based on the displacement thickness for the suction boundary layer was 347. Experiments on both the development of forced Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves and boundary layer disturbances introduced by free-stream turbulence were carried out. Spatial linear stability calculations for TS-waves, where the wall-normal velocity component is accounted for, were carried out for comparison with the experiments. This comparison shows satisfactory agreement even though the stability of the asymptotic suction profile is somewhat overpredicted by the theory. Free-stream turbulence (FST) was generated by three different grids, giving turbulence intensities at the leading edge of the plate between 1.4% and 4.0%. The FST induces disturbances in the boundary layer and it was shown that for the present suction rate the disturbance level inside the boundary layer is constant and becomes proportional to the FST intensity. In all cases transition was prevented when suction was applied whereas without suction the two highest levels of grid turbulence gave rise to transition. Despite a twofold reduction in the boundary layer thickness in the suction case compared to the no suction case the spanwise scale of the streaky structures was almost constant.