A convenient and general asymmetric transferhydrogenation of a wide array of 1-aryl-3,4-dihydroisoquinoline derivatives using a [RuIICl(η6-benzene)TsDPEN] complex in combination with a 5:2 HCOOH–Et3N azeotropic mixture as a hydrogen source was developed. Under mild reaction conditions, the described catalytic transformation secured a practical synthetic access to the corresponding valuable chiral