Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Details 2) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Pension and post retirement [Member]
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Amortization of deferred actuarial losses, tax	$ (8)	$ (18)	$ (16)	$ (36)
Pension and post retirement divestiture	0	(15)	0	(22)
Cash Flow Hedges [Member]
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Deferred cash flow hedging gains (losses), tax	0	(10)	0	(14)
Reclass of deferred cash flow hedging (losses), tax	$ 2	$ (1)	$ 3	$ (6)

OtherComprehensiveIncomeLossPensionBenefitReclassifiedToGainOnSaleTax

No definition available.

Name:	emr_OtherComprehensiveIncomeLossPensionBenefitReclassifiedToGainOnSaleTax
Namespace Prefix:	emr_
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

Name:	us-gaap_AccumulatedOtherComprehensiveIncomeLossLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount, after reclassification adjustment, of tax (expense) benefit for (increase) decrease in accumulated other comprehensive income of defined benefit plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 12
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84228862&loc=d3e640-108580

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 810
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 19
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=96868048&loc=SL4569616-111683

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 10A
-Subparagraph (i-k)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84228862&loc=SL7669646-108580

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherComprehensiveIncomeLossPensionAndOtherPostretirementBenefitPlansTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of tax expense (benefit) of reclassification adjustment from accumulated other comprehensive income of accumulated gain (loss) realized from derivative instruments designated and qualifying as the effective portion of cash flow hedges and an entity's share of an equity investee's deferred hedging gain (loss).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherComprehensiveIncomeLossReclassificationAdjustmentFromAOCIOnDerivativesTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of tax expense (benefit), before reclassification adjustments, related to increase (decrease) in accumulated gain (loss) from derivative instruments designated and qualifying as the effective portion of cash flow hedges and an entity's share of an equity investee's increase (decrease) in deferred hedging gain (loss).

+ References

+ Details

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementEquityComponentsAxis=us-gaap_AccumulatedDefinedBenefitPlansAdjustmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementEquityComponentsAxis=us-gaap_AccumulatedNetGainLossFromDesignatedOrQualifyingCashFlowHedgesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: