Business Segments (Details) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) segment
Business Segment Information
Number of business segments \| segment	5
Number of business segments involved in a product line reporting change \| segment	2
Industrial
Business Segment Information
Increase (decrease) in net sales due to product reporting changes	$ (33)
Increase (decrease) in operating income due to product reporting changes	(7)
Electronics and Energy
Business Segment Information
Increase (decrease) in net sales due to product reporting changes	33
Increase (decrease) in operating income due to product reporting changes	$ 7

Increase (decrease) in net sales due to product changes between business segments.

No definition available.

Name:	mmm_IncreaseDecreaseInNetSalesDueToProductChangesBetweenBusinessSegments
Namespace Prefix:	mmm_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents the impact to operating income related to product code changes.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_IncreaseDecreaseInOperatingIncomeDueToProductChanges
Namespace Prefix:	mmm_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents the amount of business segments that were involved in a product line reporting change.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mmm_NumberOfBusinessSegmentsInvolvedInProductLineReportingChange
Namespace Prefix:	mmm_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=mmm_IndustrialMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=mmm_ElectronicsAndEnergyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: