Former team-mates of United's favourite son lined the halfway line before the minute silence in his memory.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and West Brom boss Bryan Robson, another former United hero, laid wreaths in front of a banner proclaiming 'George - Simply the Best' just before the silent tribute.
As the near 49,000 crowd stood, the fans displayed posters of the former Northern Ireland star.
There will be another tribute before the Premiership match against Portsmouth at Old Trafford on Saturday - the day of Best's funeral in Belfast.
On the field, United brought in Louis Saha for his first start of the season.
Since his transfer from Fulham in January 2004, the Frenchman has played only 21 of a possible 103 games.
But Saha was obviously raring to go from the start.
He had an effort ruled out for offside in the sixth minute but the Red Devils had only a further six minutes to wait before breaking the deadlock against a poor Albion side.
Cristiano Ronaldo side-stepped Diomansy Kamara and as he skipped into the box he was brought down by the West Brom player.
Ronaldo stepped up to strike the resulting penalty low and right footed into the bottom corner of the net beyond the despairing dive of Russell Hoult.
United increased their lead after 16 minutes when Giuseppe Rossi's neat flick set up Saha to score with a crisp left-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Saha had another effort disallowed for offside in the 35th minute and United were unlucky not to score again in the closing seconds of the first half when Rossi connected with Saha's left-wing cross only to see his shot from 10 yards rebound off a post.
Saha was revelling in his comeback and played a role in United's third goal after 56 minutes with a one-two to set up John O'Shea who scored with a left-foot shot 10 yards out.
Albion did pull a goal back in the 76th minute. After United goalkeeper Tim Howard had clawed behind a point-balnk shot from substitute Robert Earnshaw, Nathan Ellington headed home Darren Carter's resulting corner.
But in the end it was too little, too late for Albion as United put in a performance for their departed hero.