Supplemental Guarantor Information (Details 2) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	May 31, 2012	May 31, 2011	May 31, 2010	May 31, 2009
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 339,825	$ 438,106	$ 411,281	$ 129,745
Marketable securities	0	87,220
Accounts receivable, net	450,861	429,131
Inventories, net	251,205	249,658
Uniforms and other rental items in service	452,785	393,826
Income taxes, current	22,188	33,542
Deferred tax asset (liability)	0	45,813
Prepaid expenses and other	24,704	23,481
Total current assets	1,541,568	1,700,777
Property and equipment, at cost, net	944,305	946,218
Goodwill	1,485,375	1,487,882	1,356,925
Service contracts, net	76,822	102,312
Other assets, net	112,836	114,751
Total assets	4,160,906	4,351,940	3,969,736
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	94,840	110,279
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	91,214	79,834
Accrued liabilities	256,642	242,691
Deferred tax (asset) liability	2,559	0
Long-term debt due within one year	225,636	1,335
Total current liabilities	670,891	434,139
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt due after one year	1,059,166	1,284,790
Deferred income taxes	204,581	196,321
Accrued liabilities	87,133	134,041
Total long-term liabilities	1,350,880	1,615,152
Total shareholders' equity	2,139,135	2,302,649
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	4,160,906	4,351,940
Cintas Corporation [Member]
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities		0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories, net	0	0
Uniforms and other rental items in service	0	0
Income taxes, current	0	0
Deferred tax asset (liability)		0
Prepaid expenses and other	0	0
Total current assets	0	0
Property and equipment, at cost, net	0	0
Goodwill	0	0
Service contracts, net	0	0
Other assets, net	1,637,225	1,778,595
Total assets	1,637,225	1,778,595
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	(465,247)	(465,247)
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Deferred tax (asset) liability	0
Long-term debt due within one year	0	0
Total current liabilities	(465,247)	(465,247)
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt due after one year	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Total long-term liabilities	0	0
Total shareholders' equity	2,102,472	2,243,842
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	1,637,225	1,778,595
Corp. 2 [Member]
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	58,737	54,957	34,905	39,397
Marketable securities		0
Accounts receivable, net	327,442	312,033
Inventories, net	210,283	204,536
Uniforms and other rental items in service	337,298	302,897
Income taxes, current	5,296	949
Deferred tax asset (liability)		566
Prepaid expenses and other	7,905	5,738
Total current assets	946,961	881,676
Property and equipment, at cost, net	600,565	587,701
Goodwill	0	0
Service contracts, net	71,337	94,379
Other assets, net	1,628,516	1,629,598
Total assets	3,247,379	3,193,354
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	(475,624)	(329,430)
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	63,797	55,138
Accrued liabilities	67,651	61,399
Deferred tax (asset) liability	(538)
Long-term debt due within one year	225,866	855
Total current liabilities	(118,848)	(212,038)
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt due after one year	1,068,820	1,294,674
Deferred income taxes	(6)	(7)
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Total long-term liabilities	1,068,814	1,294,667
Total shareholders' equity	2,297,413	2,110,725
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	3,247,379	3,193,354
Subsidiary Guarantors [Member]
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	229,287	313,283	339,702	76,979
Marketable securities		0
Accounts receivable, net	81,243	76,484
Inventories, net	20,258	24,943
Uniforms and other rental items in service	101,435	82,148
Income taxes, current	3,642	8,355
Deferred tax asset (liability)		47,905
Prepaid expenses and other	12,770	13,732
Total current assets	448,635	566,850
Property and equipment, at cost, net	259,744	274,086
Goodwill	1,419,535	1,416,926
Service contracts, net	326	663
Other assets, net	2,467,198	2,070,017
Total assets	4,595,438	4,328,542
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	978,932	855,739
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	21,619	20,153
Accrued liabilities	176,220	154,861
Deferred tax (asset) liability	(87)
Long-term debt due within one year	(230)	480
Total current liabilities	1,176,454	1,031,233
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt due after one year	(11,288)	(12,433)
Deferred income taxes	199,404	190,701
Accrued liabilities	86,406	133,427
Total long-term liabilities	274,522	311,695
Total shareholders' equity	3,144,462	2,985,614
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	4,595,438	4,328,542
Non-Guarantors [Member]
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	51,801	69,866	36,674	13,369
Marketable securities		87,220
Accounts receivable, net	42,176	40,614
Inventories, net	10,781	13,266
Uniforms and other rental items in service	35,051	34,895
Income taxes, current	13,250	24,238
Deferred tax asset (liability)		(2,658)
Prepaid expenses and other	4,029	4,011
Total current assets	157,088	271,452
Property and equipment, at cost, net	83,996	84,431
Goodwill	65,840	70,956
Service contracts, net	5,159	7,270
Other assets, net	759,439	369,527
Total assets	1,071,522	803,636
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	18,760	11,198
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	5,798	4,543
Accrued liabilities	13,557	27,235
Deferred tax (asset) liability	3,184
Long-term debt due within one year	0	0
Total current liabilities	41,299	42,976
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt due after one year	848	1,745
Deferred income taxes	5,183	5,627
Accrued liabilities	727	614
Total long-term liabilities	6,758	7,986
Total shareholders' equity	1,023,465	752,674
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	1,071,522	803,636
Eliminations [Member]
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities		0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories, net	9,883	6,913
Uniforms and other rental items in service	(20,999)	(26,114)
Income taxes, current	0	0
Deferred tax asset (liability)		0
Prepaid expenses and other	0	0
Total current assets	(11,116)	(19,201)
Property and equipment, at cost, net	0	0
Goodwill	0	0
Service contracts, net	0	0
Other assets, net	(6,379,542)	(5,732,986)
Total assets	(6,390,658)	(5,752,187)
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	38,019	38,019
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	0	0
Accrued liabilities	(786)	(804)
Deferred tax (asset) liability	0
Long-term debt due within one year	0	0
Total current liabilities	37,233	37,215
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt due after one year	786	804
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Total long-term liabilities	786	804
Total shareholders' equity	(6,428,677)	(5,790,206)
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	$ (6,390,658)	$ (5,752,187)