Document and Entity Information	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014	Aug. 04, 2014
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Document Type	10-Q/A
Amendment Flag	true
Amendment Description	We are filing this Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-Q/A (“Form 10-Q/A”) to amend our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on August 8, 2014 (“Original Filing”) and restate our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related disclosures for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 and six months ended June 30, 2014. This Form 10-Q/A also amends certain other items in the Original Filing, as listed in “Items Amended in the Form 10-Q/A” below as a result of the restatement. Details are discussed below and in Note 1A to the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
Document Period End Date	Jun. 30, 2014
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2014
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q2
Trading Symbol	SLXP
Entity Registrant Name	SALIX PHARMACEUTICALS LTD
Entity Central Index Key	0001009356
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		63,688,811