Extraction from the leaves with water can be improved by aqueous solutions of hydrotropes. For this, it is necessary to know how the extracted substance in water is ionized. To remove legnin from sawdust, the most useful hydrotropic salts were the alkaline salts of xylene, cymene sulfonic acids and benzoic acid. If the substance has a negative charge, guanidium chloride can be used. Of course, the selected hydrotrope should not degrade the property of the extracted substance and it is good to separate it from it, if necessary.
Generally, Soxhlet apparatus is used and advisable also for extraction with organic solvents.
For water extraction, you can soak your plant material in water and keep it on boiling water bath for few hours and can collect the extract by filtration. You can repeat the extraction cycle 3-4 times by adding fresh water in plant material left after filtration for collection of complete water soluble matter. Hope, this will help you to obtain the successful results.