AbstractIn this article, a new numerical scheme for a degenerate Keller–Segel model with heterogeneous anisotropic tensors is treated. It is well‐known that standard finite volume scheme not permit to handle anisotropic diffusion without any restrictions on meshes. Therefore, a combined finite volume‐nonconforming finite element scheme is introduced, developed, and studied. The unknowns of this scheme are the values at the center of cell edges. Convergence of the approximate solution to the continuous solution is proved only supposing the shape regularity condition for the primal mesh. This scheme ensures the validity of the discrete maximum principle under the classical condition that all transmissibilities coefficients are positive. Therefore, a nonlinear technique is presented, as a correction of the diffusive flux, to provide a monotone scheme for general tensors. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 1030–1065, 2014