AbstractSeismic ambient noise cross correlation is increasingly used to monitor volcanic activity. However, this method is usually limited to volcanoes equipped with large and dense networks of broadband stations. The single‐station approach may provide a powerful and reliable alternative to the classical “cross‐station” approach when measuring variation of seismic velocities. We implemented it on the Piton de la Fournaise in Reunion Island, a very active volcano with a remarkable multidisciplinary continuous monitoring. Over the past decade, this volcano has been increasingly studied using the traditional cross‐correlation technique and therefore represents a unique laboratory to validate our approach. Our results, tested on stations located up to 3.5 km from the eruptive site, performed as well as the classical approach to detect the volcanic eruption in the 1–2 Hz frequency band. This opens new perspectives to successfully forecast volcanic activity at volcanoes equipped with a single three‐component seismometer.