We report unexpected enhancements of the magneto-optical effect in ferromagnetic Permalloy disks of diameter D<400 nm . The effect becomes increasingly pronounced for smaller D , reaching more than a 100% enhancement for D=100 nm samples. By means of experiments and simulations, the origin of this effect is identified as a nanoscale ring-shaped region at the disk edges, in which the magneto-optically induced electric polarization is enhanced. This leads to a modification of the electromagnetic near fields and causes the enhanced magneto-optical excitation, independent from any optical resonance.