An optimum perturbation apparatus and method in a multi-antenna, multi-user communication system are provided. In the optimum perturbation method, upon receipt of modulation symbols, channel responses are decomposed into eigenvalues and eigenvectors by Single Value Decompositin (SVD) and a distortion value of the modulation symbols is estimated using the eigenvectors and the eigenvalues to minimize noise and interference power. The modulation symbols are precoded by combining the modulation symbols with the estimated distortion value.