Mulch instead of rake. The key is to begin cutting up the leaves as soon as they begin to fall, while they're still dry, pretty much whenever you have a clear, sunny, dry day and as much time to spare. And, as much as you can, stay on top of it, ahead of it.

To do this, and because the grass doesn't grow quite as fast at that point in the year (due to less consistent sun) elevate the deck of your lawnmower to its highest setting. So, you're cutting up the leaves that lay a top the lawn as opposed to the grass itself.

If you have time, check to see that the blades are in good condition, sharp. If you want to make it a little bit more of a project, use a small hand-held battery-powered leaf blower to go around the whole house, clear out from the plant beds, etc...and the around the perimeter of the entire yard aiming in the general direction of the center of whichever portion of the yard you're working from (front, back, or side), just getting most of the leaves accumulated around the edges further onto the lawn. If you have even more time than that, then start with a ladder and (using that same tool, which, if you have a smaller house or yard is probably a more versatile piece of equipment than many of those gas-powered, back-pack units you see landscapers using) do a quick shot at the roof and gutters first.

Either way, the point being to get to as much of the leaves as quickly as you can, working your way toward the center of whatever section of the lawn and blowing outward.

Then, the next time you have a dry day (hopefully a day or two later, lower the deck a bit closer to the height you want to maintain the grass at (depends on the type of grass, but generally taller, closer to 1.5 inches, means it will tend to remain greener, healthier, be more resistant to whatever extremes in condition, too much or too little sun or rain.) And repeat, this time cutting both some grass and whatever new leaves have accumulate.

So, basically, in fall, you're still trying to cut more frequently, but with more targeted focus on the leaves themselves, but still not letting the grass get so tall that you have to take off too much at any given time. And so, each time you go over it, the little bits of leaves & grass get cut up progressively more finely and tend to fall between the individual blades of grass, as opposed to blowing all over the place or getting wet and packing down flat, saturated, accumulating on top of the grass where they will deprive it of sunlight and air.

However, by some point, the mulched leaves & extra grass may finally accumulate to where you might have to rake a bit just to keep the surface clear, exposed to what little sunlight there is at that time of year. And you can just compost that around the base of plantings or wherever else you might like. Although, it bears mentioning that it will, by then, be much less voluminous, have been cut up and beginning to oxidize & break down from much earlier on, than if you just allow it to keep building into bags and bags upon more bags of leaves.

Either way, if you do this, you will tend to notice how the grass will actually stay lush & green much later into the year, and pick back up that much sooner in spring.