Context. The study of dwarf galaxies and their environments provides crucial test beds for predictions of cosmological models and insights into the structure formation on small cosmological scales. In recent years, many problems on the scale of groups of galaxies has challenged the current standard model of cosmology. Aims. Our aim is to increase the sample of known galaxies in the Leo-I group, which contains the M 96 subgroup and the Leo Triplet. This galaxy aggregate is located at the edge of the Local Volume at a mean distance of 10.7 Mpc. Methods. We employed image enhancing techniques to search for low surface brightness objects in publicly available gr images taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey within 500 square degrees around the Leo-I group. Once detected, we performed surface photometry and compared their structural parameters to other known dwarf galaxies in the nearby universe. Results. We found 36 new dwarf galaxy candidates within the search area. Their morphology and structural parameters resemble known dwarfs in other groups. Among the candidates five or six galaxies are considered as ultra diffuse galaxy candidates. If confirmed, they would be some of the closest examples of this galaxy type. We assessed the luminosity function of the Leo-I group and find it to be considerably rich in dwarf galaxies, with twice the number of galaxies as the Local Group at a limiting magnitude of M_V = −10 and a steeper faint-end slope.