Error handling in container procedures
I use this pattern proposed in Exception Handling and Nexted Transactions:

create procedure [usp_my_procedure_name]
as
begin
    set nocount on;
    declare @trancount int;
    set @trancount = @@trancount;
    begin try
        if @trancount = 0
            begin transaction
        else
            save transaction usp_my_procedure_name;

        -- Do the actual work here

lbexit:
        if @trancount = 0   
            commit;
    end try
    begin catch
        declare @error int, @message varchar(4000), @xstate int;
        select @error = ERROR_NUMBER(), @message = ERROR_MESSAGE(), @xstate = XACT_STATE();
        if @xstate = -1
            rollback;
        if @xstate = 1 and @trancount = 0
            rollback
        if @xstate = 1 and @trancount &gt; 0
            rollback transaction usp_my_procedure_name;

        raiserror ('usp_my_procedure_name: %d: %s', 16, 1, @error, @message) ;
    end catch   
end


This not only raises, but also can rollback to savepoint, if possible. This is very convenient in batch processing, the batch is not lost if a row has an error. 

I never ever use return codes in stored procs. Returns codes beg to be ignored. I acknowledge the problem of nested errors as an annoyance, but with SQL Serevr 2012 you have the simple THROW; (no other arguments) to re-raise the original exception.