Percentage of eligible compensation by employee before tax contribution, 100% matched by employer.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	ecl_
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- Definition

Percentage of matching contribution by company vested immediately under a 401(k) savings plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	num:percentItemType
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Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of employer matching contribution when employee before tax contribution is up to 3% of eligible compensation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ecl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of employer matching contribution when employee before tax contribution is between 3% to 5% of eligible compensation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Represents the percentage of employer matching contribution when employee before tax contribution is between 3 percent to 6 percent of eligible compensation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ecl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of employer matching contribution when employee before tax contribution is between 4% to 8% of eligible compensation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ecl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of employer matching contribution when employee before tax contribution is up to 4% of eligible compensation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ecl_PercentageOfMatchingContributionMadeByCompanyUpTo4Percent
Namespace Prefix:	ecl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of the cost recognized during the period for defined contribution plans.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 70
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49170846&loc=d3e28014-114942

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

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- Details

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Balance Type:
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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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Data Type:	na
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- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
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- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
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- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
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- Details

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RETIREMENT PLANS (Details 7) - 401 (K) Plan - USD ($) $ in Millions	8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Employer contribution		$ 72	$ 67
Legacy Ecolab \| All other active employees
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%		4.00%	4.00%	4.00%
Percentage of matching contribution made by company, up to 4% eligible compensation		100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Percentage of matching contribution made by company for employee contributions between 4% and 8%		50.00%	50.00%	50.00%
Legacy Ecolab \| Active employees
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%		3.00%	3.00%	3.00%
Percentage of matching contribution made by company, up to 3% eligible compensation		100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Percentage of matching contribution made by company for employee contributions between 3% and 5%		50.00%	50.00%	50.00%
Legacy Ecolab \| Minimum \| All other active employees
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%		4.00%	4.00%	4.00%
Legacy Ecolab \| Minimum \| Active employees
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%		3.00%	3.00%	3.00%
Legacy Ecolab \| Maximum \| All other active employees
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%		8.00%	8.00%	8.00%
Legacy Ecolab \| Maximum \| Active employees
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%		5.00%	5.00%	5.00%
Nalco
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%				4.00%
Percentage of matching contribution made by company, up to 4% eligible compensation				100.00%
Percentage of matching contribution made by company for employee contributions between 4% and 8%				50.00%
Nalco \| Minimum
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%				4.00%
Nalco \| Maximum
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%				8.00%
Legacy Ecolab and Legacy Nalco
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of matching contribution by company vested immediately				100.00%
Employer contribution				$ 54
Champion
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%				3.00%
Percentage of matching contribution made by company, up to 3% eligible compensation				100.00%
Percentage of employer matching contribution when employee before tax contribution is between 3% to 6% of eligible compensation				50.00%
Employer contribution	$ 5
Champion \| Minimum
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%				3.00%
Champion \| Maximum
Defined Contribution Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Percentage of eligible compensation, matched 100%				6.00%