In this paper, we propose an enhanced leakage-based precoding scheme, i.e., layer signal to leakage plus noise ratio (layer SLNR) scheme, for multi-user multi-layer MIMO systems. Specifically, the layer SLNR scheme incorporates the MIMO receiver structure into the precoder design procedure, which makes the formulation of signal power and interference / leakage power more accurate. Besides, the layer SLNR scheme not only takes into account the inter-layer interference from different users, but also takes care of the inter-layer interference from the same user which is usually assumed to be zero in previous studies. As a result, the proposed layer SLNR scheme produces a good balance between the layer signal power and layer interference power in a multi-user multi-layer MIMO system, therefore achieves better system performance. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed layer SLNR scheme are validated via simulations.