diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f1eb84c38..7866fc6f1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ OPTION(ENABLE_XTL_COMPLEX "enables support for xcomplex defined in xtl" OFF)
 OPTION(BUILD_TESTS "xsimd test suite" OFF)
 
 if(ENABLE_XTL_COMPLEX)
-    add_definitions(-DXSIMD_ENABLE_XTL_COMPLEX=1)
     find_package(xtl 0.7.0 REQUIRED)
+    target_compile_definitions(xsimd INTERFACE XSIMD_ENABLE_XTL_COMPLEX=1)
     target_link_libraries(xsimd INTERFACE xtl)
 endif()
 
diff --git a/xsimdConfig.cmake.in b/xsimdConfig.cmake.in
index cba17c83e..1c395450d 100644
--- a/xsimdConfig.cmake.in
+++ b/xsimdConfig.cmake.in
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ if(NOT TARGET @PROJECT_NAME@)
     set(@PROJECT_NAME@_ENABLE_XTL_COMPLEX @ENABLE_XTL_COMPLEX@)
     if(@PROJECT_NAME@_ENABLE_XTL_COMPLEX)
         include(CMakeFindDependencyMacro)
-        find_dependency(xtl)
+        find_dependency(xtl REQUIRED)
     endif()
 
     include("${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/@PROJECT_NAME@Targets.cmake")