In this paper we present certain characteristic conditions for the convergence of the generalized steepest descent approximation process to a zero of a generalized strongly accretive operator, defined on a uniformly smooth Banach space. Our study is based on an important result of Reich [S. Reich, An iterative procedure for constructing zeros of accretive sets in Banach spaces, Nonlinear Anal. 2 (1978) 85–92] and given results extend and improve some of the earlier results which include the steepest descent approximation method.