The histogram shows that the values of change in entropy (ΔSmax), relative cooling power (RCP), and Curie temperature (Tc) for current samples (La0.90Zr0.10MnO3) are simultaneously enhanced and are comparable with the family of La-manganite materials and standard gadolinium (Gd) bulk sample. The dotted orange line shows the room temperature. The inset shows the table with serial number and the corresponding materials with their respective references. (Note: ΔSmax and RCP values are taken at ΔH = 5T). Display omitted •La1−xZrxMnO3 (x = 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15) samples synthesized by chemical combustion.•Magnetic transition near-room-temperature with the second-order phase transition.•Short-range exchange interactions help in enhanced magnetic and magnetocaloric values.•Change in entropy |ΔSm| at 5 T is 4.04 J·kg−1·K−1 at 304 K for La0.90Zr0.10MnO3 sample.•Potential material for future magnetic refrigeration works at near room-temperature. Near-room-temperature and enhanced magnetocaloric properties are investigated for the chemical combustion synthesized electron-doped manganite La1−xZrxMnO3 with x = 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15. The single-phase rhombohedral crystal structure is observed particularly for the La0.90Zr0.10MnO3 (Zr10) system. Importantly, all the samples exhibit the paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic (PM-to-FM) transition close to the room-temperature with the second-order phase transition. The analysis of the magnetic data in the critical region with different theoretical models such as 3D-Heisenberg, 3D-Ising, Mean-field, and Tri-critical mean-field suggested that the Zr10 sample exhibits the typical 3D-Heisenberg ferromagnetic characteristics. This indicated that the enhanced magnetic and magnetocaloric properties are governed by short-range exchange forces. Furthermore, the obtained data is also fitted with the Kouvel-Fisher method to obtain the transition-temperature, critical exponent β and it is found that the transition temperature and β values are totally consistent to that of the 3D-Heisenberg model. Significantly, the change in entropy |ΔSm| at 5 T is calculated to be 4.04 J·kg−1·K−1 at 304 K in case of Zr10 sample indicating that it can be one of the potential material for the future magnetic refrigeration technology working at near room-temperature.