Commitments and Contingencies (Detail 2) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2010
Respirator Mask/Asbestos Litigation - Aearo Technologies
Loss Contingencies
Annual fee paid to Cabot to retain responsibility and liability for products manufactured before July 11, 1995	$ 400,000
Employment Litigation - Whitaker lawsuit
Loss Contingencies
Current employees filing lawsuit	1
Former employees filing lawsuit	1
Threshold age for members of class action (in years)	46
Punitive damages, statutory limit per claimant	$ 8,500
Number of additional named plaintiffs	4
Number of claims dismissed and settled	1
Employment Litigation - Garcia lawsuit
Loss Contingencies
Current employees filing lawsuit	1
Former employees filing lawsuit	5
Threshold age for members of class action (in years)	46
Total number of named plaintiffs	6
Number of current or former employees who have signed "opt-in" forms	86
Upper end of salary grade level involved in lawsuit	18
Threshold age for federal protection from age discrimination	40
EEOC age-discrimination charges
Loss Contingencies
Current employees filing lawsuit	1
Former employees filing lawsuit	6
Number of claimants not involved in Garcia lawsuit	1
EEOC age-discrimination charges \| Minnesota, Texas and California
Loss Contingencies
Former employees filing lawsuit	3
EEOC age-discrimination charges \| Missouri
Loss Contingencies
Current employees filing lawsuit	1
EEOC age-discrimination charges \| California
Loss Contingencies
Former employees filing lawsuit	1
EEOC age-discrimination charges \| Minnesota
Loss Contingencies
Former employees filing lawsuit	2

The annual fee paid to a co-defendant to retain responsibility, and liability for and indemnify the entity's subsidiary against product liability claims for respirators manufactured prior to July 11, 1995.

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Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of additional named plaintiffs to a class action.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyAdditionalNamedPlaintiffs
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:floatItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of current employees seeking to represent a class in a lawsuit.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyClaimantsCurrentEmployeesNumber
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of former employees seeking to represent a class in a lawsuit.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyClaimantsFormerEmployeesNumber
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of either current or former employees seeking to join action.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyClaimantsSeekingToJoinActionNumber
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:floatItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The threshold age of employees to be members of the class engaged in a lawsuit.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyClassOfCurrentAndFormerEmployeesThresholdAge
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The threshold age of employees protected from age discrimination by federal law.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyFederalLawProtectionThresholdAge
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:floatItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The statutory limit to punitive damages per claimant.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyPunitiveDamagesLimitPerClaimant
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The upper end of the salary grade level involved in the lawsuit.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencySalaryGradeUpperEndOfRangeInLawsuit
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:floatItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The total number of named plaintiffs in employement litigation action.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyTotalNamedClaimantsEmploymentLitigation
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:floatItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of claimants in this matter that are not also involved in a separate lawsuit against the entity.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_LossContingencyTotalNamedClaimantsNotNamedInOtherLawsuit
Namespace Prefix:	mmm
Data Type:	xbrli:floatItemType
Balance Type:	na
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.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LossContingenciesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of claims settled and dismissed during the period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS)
-Number 5
-Paragraph 9, 10, 11, 12

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration