I see the terms used so interchangeably in modern media. Are they just different iterations of the same group, did they split from each other at some point, have they always been distinct entities, or are they somewhere in between? Historically and ideologically, what sets them apart?
You will likely find this old response of great use.
To give a TL;DR summary of what I wrote there though.
The Mujaheddin refers to the Afghan fighters who fought against the Soviets during the '80s.
Al Qaeda is an organization founded by Osama bin Laden in the late '80s. Its genesis is with the foreign fighters who traveled to Afghanistan to help the Mujaheddin.
The Taliban was founded in the early '90s, when the Mujaheddin, having kicked out the Soviets and taken nominal control of the country, was now fighting itself.
While former Mujaheddin fighters certainly ended up joining the Taliban and Al Qaeda, neither is a direct successor organization to the Muj from the '80s.
That old response linked by /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov is awesome. I just wanted to add a little bit about the names of these orgs because it gives further insight:
Mujahideen is a plural of mujahid which refers to a practitioner of jihad, which is Arabic for "struggle" or, as is commonly understood by Muslims, resistance against oppression, whether that oppression be that of the self upon the soul or an external political or armed entity. The latter meaning is commonly attributed to in the West and, as an example, the Mujahideen of Afghanistan believed that they were committing jihad against the non-Islamic oppressive forces arrayed against them, both Soviet and Afghan.
Taliban is a plural of talib which is Arabic/Pashto/Urdu/Punjabi for "student". The name is derived from their story of outraged Afghan refugee students from the madrassas of Pakistan committing jihad against sexually deviant warlords. These madrassas were funded by wealthy Arab, esp. Saudi, donors, and followed Wahabbi/Salafi doctrines. Just as an intellectual exercise, and hopefully, not violating the 20-year rule, draw the parallel to the current situation in Syria.
Al-Qaeda means "the foundation" though, more colloquially in that region, the term is also used to refer to the textbook used in class which contains all the lessons for the year.
The names reflect objectives and tactics.
Hope this helps.