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Label Element Value
[RiskReturnAbstract] rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Document Type dei_DocumentType Other
Document Period End Date dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate Aug. 31, 2012
Registrant Name dei_EntityRegistrantName EATON VANCE GROWTH TRUST
Central Index Key dei_EntityCentralIndexKey 0000102816
Amendment Flag dei_AmendmentFlag false
Document Creation Date dei_DocumentCreationDate Oct. 25, 2012
Document Effective Date dei_DocumentEffectiveDate Oct. 25, 2012
Prospectus Date rr_ProspectusDate Sep. 30, 2011
Eaton Vance Richard Bernstein All Asset Strategy Fund
  
[RiskReturnAbstract] rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Risk/Return [Heading] rr_RiskReturnHeading Eaton Vance Richard Bernstein All Asset Strategy Fund
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading

Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The Fund’s investment objective is total return.
Expense [Heading] rr_ExpenseHeading

Fees and Expenses of the Fund
Expense Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.  You may qualify for a reduced sales charge if you invest, or agree to invest over a 13-month period, at least $50,000 in Eaton Vance Funds.  More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary and in Sales Charges beginning on page 14 of this Prospectus and page 18 of the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information.  
Portfolio Turnover [Heading] rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading

Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” the portfolio).  A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account.  These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance.
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text] rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts You may qualify for a reduced sales charge if you invest, or agree to invest over a 13-month period, at least $50,000 in Eaton Vance Funds.  More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary and in Sales Charges beginning on page 14 of this Prospectus and page 18 of the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information.  
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount] rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount 50,000
Expense Example [Heading] rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Example.

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

 This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.  The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods.  The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the operating expenses remain the same.  Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Strategy [Heading] rr_StrategyHeading

Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

In seeking its objective, the Fund has flexibility to allocate its assets in markets around the world and among various asset classes, including equity, fixed-income, commodity, currency and cash investments.  

The Fund is managed in a macro-driven, top-down style that emphasizes and de-emphasizes various global market segments and asset classes at different times.  Exposures will vary among asset classes based on the sub-adviser’s assessment of a range of proprietary and non-proprietary quantitative indicators and the firm’s macro-economic analysis and judgment.  It is expected that the macro-economic analysis will evolve over time and may include consideration of the following:  historical risk and return characteristics; global market valuations; global yield curves; asset class, regional, and country correlations; profit cycle analyses and style and sector rotation; expected beta; estimate revisions and earnings surprises; investor sentiment and other factors. Individual equity security selection is based on quantitative screening and optimization to achieve desired market exposures while seeking to control security-specific and other observable market risks.  The portfolio is monitored on an ongoing basis and rebalanced as necessary to seek to ensure that desired market exposures and risk parameters are maintained.  Securities may be sold if they exhibit performance that might counteract the desired exposures or to implement a revised allocation based on a modified top-down view. Under normal market conditions, the Fund currently expects to invest 0-75% of its net assets in equity securities, 25-90% in fixed-income securities, 0-25% in commodities (primarily through the use of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that invest in commodities or commodities-related investments) and/or currencies, and 0-25% in cash and cash equivalents.

The Fund may invest without limit in both developed and emerging markets. The Fund may invest in fixed-income securities of any credit quality. Such investment may include, but are not limited to, corporate bonds, securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities, obligations of other sovereign nations, municipal obligations, mortgage-backed securities and inflation-linked debt securities.  The Fund may invest in stocks of companies of any capitalization, real estate investment trusts, exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”), and ETFs and other pooled investment vehicles.  Investment in cash or cash equivalents may include U.S and foreign bank certificates of deposit, fixed time deposits, repurchase agreements, bankers’ acceptances and other short-term instruments with a remaining maturity of 397 days or less.  The Fund currently expects to gain exposures to certain types of investments principally through ETFs.  

The Fund may engage in derivative transactions to seek return, to hedge against fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency exchange rates, to change the effective duration of the fixed-income securities in its portfolio, to manage certain investment risks and/or as a substitute for the purchase or sale of securities, currencies or commodities.  The Fund expects to use derivatives principally when seeking to gain exposure to equity or fixed-income securities using futures contracts on securities indices and/or when seeking to gain or reduce exposure to certain currencies by buying or selling forward foreign currency exchange contracts, but may also purchase or sell forwards or other types of futures contracts; options on futures contracts; exchange traded and over-the-counter options; equity collars, equity-linked securities and equity swap agreements; interest rate, total return, inflation and credit default swaps; forward rate agreements; and credit linked notes and other similarly structured products. The Fund may also engage in covered short sales (on individual securities held or on an index or basket of securities whose constituents are held in whole or in part) and forward commitments.  There is no limit on the Fund’s use of derivatives.
Strategy Portfolio Concentration [Text] rr_StrategyPortfolioConcentration

In seeking its objective, the Fund has flexibility to allocate its assets in markets around the world and among various asset classes, including equity, fixed-income, commodity, currency and cash investments.  

The Fund is managed in a macro-driven, top-down style that emphasizes and de-emphasizes various global market segments and asset classes at different times.  Exposures will vary among asset classes based on the sub-adviser’s assessment of a range of proprietary and non-proprietary quantitative indicators and the firm’s macro-economic analysis and judgment.  It is expected that the macro-economic analysis will evolve over time and may include consideration of the following:  historical risk and return characteristics; global market valuations; global yield curves; asset class, regional, and country correlations; profit cycle analyses and style and sector rotation; expected beta; estimate revisions and earnings surprises; investor sentiment and other factors. Individual equity security selection is based on quantitative screening and optimization to achieve desired market exposures while seeking to control security-specific and other observable market risks.  The portfolio is monitored on an ongoing basis and rebalanced as necessary to seek to ensure that desired market exposures and risk parameters are maintained.  Securities may be sold if they exhibit performance that might counteract the desired exposures or to implement a revised allocation based on a modified top-down view. Under normal market conditions, the Fund currently expects to invest 0-75% of its net assets in equity securities, 25-90% in fixed-income securities, 0-25% in commodities (primarily through the use of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that invest in commodities or commodities-related investments) and/or currencies, and 0-25% in cash and cash equivalents.
Risk [Heading] rr_RiskHeading

Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block] rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

Equity Investing Risk. The Fund’s shares may be sensitive to stock market volatility and the stocks in which the Fund invests may be more volatile than the stock market as a whole.  The value of equity investments and related instruments may decline in response to conditions affecting the general economy; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; and currency, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations, as well as issuer or sector specific events.  Market conditions may affect certain types of stocks to a greater extent than other types of stocks.  If the stock market declines, the value of Fund shares will also likely decline and although stock values can rebound, there is no assurance that values will return to previous levels. Preferred stocks may also be sensitive to changes in interest rates.  When interest rates rise, the value of preferred stocks will generally fall.

Debt Market Risk.  Economic and other events (whether real or perceived) can reduce the demand for investments held by the Fund, which may reduce their market prices and cause the value of Fund shares to fall. The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted.  Certain securities and other investments held by the Fund can experience downturns in trading activity and, at such times, the supply of such instruments in the market may exceed the demand.  At other times, the demand for such instruments may exceed the supply in the market.  An imbalance in supply and demand in the market may result in valuation uncertainties and greater volatility, less liquidity, wider trading spreads and a lack of price transparency in the market.  No active trading market may exist for certain investments, which may impair the ability of the Fund to sell or to realize the full value of such investments in the event of the need to liquidate such assets. Adverse market conditions may impair the liquidity of some actively traded investments.

Foreign and Emerging Market Investment Risk.  Because the Fund can invest a significant portion of its assets in foreign instruments, the value of Fund shares can be adversely affected by changes in currency exchange rates and political, economic and market developments abroad.  In emerging or less developed countries, these risks can be more significant.  Investment markets in emerging market countries are typically substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than the major markets in developed countries.  As a result, Fund share values may be more volatile than if it invested only in developed markets.  Emerging market countries may have relatively unstable governments and economies.  Emerging market investments often are subject to speculative trading, which typically contributes to volatility.  Trading in foreign and emerging markets typically involves higher expense than trading in the United States. The Fund may have difficulties enforcing its legal or contractual rights in a foreign country. The value of investments denominated in foreign currencies can be adversely affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks associated with investing directly in foreign securities, including political, economic and market risks.

ETF Risk.  Investing in an ETF exposes the Fund to all of the risks of that ETF’s investments and subjects it to a pro rata portion of the ETF’s fees and expenses. As a result, the cost of investing in ETF shares may exceed the costs of investing directly in its underlying investments. ETF shares trade on an exchange at a market price which may vary from the ETF’s net asset value.  The Fund may purchase ETFs at prices that exceed the net asset value of their underlying investments and may sell ETF investments at prices below such net asset value. Because the market price of ETF shares depends on the demand in the market for them, the market price of an ETF may be more volatile than the underlying portfolio of securities the ETF is designed to track, and the Fund may not be able to liquidate ETF holdings at the time and price desired, which may impact Fund performance.

Smaller Company Equity Risk. The stocks of smaller, less seasoned companies are generally subject to greater price fluctuations, limited liquidity, higher transaction costs and higher investment risk.  Smaller companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, may be dependent on a limited management group, and may lack substantial capital reserves or an established performance record.  There may be generally less publicly available information about such companies than for larger, more established companies.

Credit Risk.  Investment in debt obligations are subject to the risk of non-payment of scheduled principal and interest.  Changes in economic conditions or other circumstances may reduce the capacity of the party obligated to make principal and interest payments on such instruments and may lead to defaults. Such non-payments and defaults may reduce the value of Fund shares and income distributions. The value of a debt obligation also may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability to make principal and interest payments. In addition, the credit ratings of fixed income securities may be lowered if the financial condition of the party obligated to make payments with respect to such instruments changes.  Credit ratings assigned by rating agencies are based on a number of factors and do not necessarily reflect the issuer’s current financial condition or the volatility or liquidity of the security.  In the event of bankruptcy of the issuer of fixed income securities, the Fund could experience delays or limitations with respect to its ability to realize the benefits of any collateral securing the instrument. In order to enforce its rights in the event of a default, bankruptcy or similar situation, the Fund may be required to retain legal or similar counsel.  This may increase the Fund’s operating expenses and adversely affect net asset value.

Interest Rate Risk.  As interest rates rise, the value of fixed income investments is likely to decline.  Conversely, when interest rates decline, the value of fixed income investments is likely to rise.  Securities with longer maturities are more sensitive to changes in interest rates than those with shorter maturities, making them more volatile.  A rising interest rate environment may extend the average life of mortgages or other asset-backed receivables underlying mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities. This extension increases the risk of depreciation due to future increases in market interest rates.  In a declining interest rate environment, prepayment of callable income investments may increase.  In such circumstances, the Fund may have to reinvest the prepayment proceeds at lower yields.

Risk of U.S. Government-Sponsored Agencies.  Although certain U.S. Government-sponsored agencies (such as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and Fannie Mae) may be chartered or sponsored by acts of Congress, their securities are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury.

Risk of Lower Rated Investments.  Investments rated below investment grade and comparable unrated securities ("junk bonds") have speculative characteristics because of the credit risk associated with their issuers.  Changes in economic conditions or other circumstances typically have a greater effect on the ability of issuers of lower rated investments to make principal and interest payments than they do on issuers of higher rated investments.  An economic downturn generally leads to a higher non-payment rate, and a lower rated investment may lose significant value before a default occurs.  Lower rated investments generally are subject to greater price volatility and illiquidity than higher rated investments.

Municipal Bond Risk.  The amount of public information available about municipal bonds is generally less than for corporate equities or bonds, meaning that the investment performance of municipal bond investments may be more dependent on the analytical abilities of the investment adviser than stock or corporate bond investments. The secondary market for municipal bonds also tends to be less well-developed and less liquid than many other securities markets, which may limit an owner’s ability to sell its bonds at attractive prices.  The spread between the price at which an obligation can be purchased and the price at which it can be sold may widen during periods of market distress.  Less liquid obligations can become more difficult to value and be subject to erratic price movements.  The increased presence of non-traditional participants or the absence of traditional participants in the municipal markets may lead to greater volatility in the markets.

Derivatives Risk.  The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the asset, index, rate or instrument underlying a derivative, due to failure of a counterparty or due to tax or regulatory constraints.  Derivatives may create economic leverage in the Fund, which magnifies the Fund’s exposure to the underlying investment. Derivatives risk may be more significant when derivatives are used to enhance return or as a substitute for a cash investment position, rather than solely to hedge the risk of a position held by the Fund.  When derivatives are used to gain or limit exposure to a particular market or market segment, their performance may not correlate as expected to the performance of such market thereby causing the Fund to fail to achieve its original purpose for using such derivatives. A decision as to whether, when and how to use derivatives involves the exercise of specialized skill and judgment, and a transaction may be unsuccessful in whole or in part because of market behavior or unexpected events.  Derivative instruments may be difficult to value, may be illiquid, and may be subject to wide swings in valuation caused by changes in the value of the underlying instrument.  If a derivatives’ counterparty is unable to honor its commitments, the value of Fund shares may decline and the Fund could experience delays in the return of collateral or other assets held by the counterparty.  The loss on derivative transactions may substantially exceed the initial investment.

Risks of Commodity-Related Investments.  The value of commodities investments will generally be affected by overall market movements and factors specific to a particular industry or commodity, which may include weather, embargoes, tariffs, and health, political, international and regulatory developments. Economic and other events (whether real or perceived) can reduce the demand for commodities, which may reduce market prices and cause the value of the Fund’s commodity investments to fall. The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted. Exposure to commodities and commodities markets may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. No active trading market may exist for certain commodities investments, which may impair the ability of the Fund to sell or to realize the full value of such investments in the event of the need to liquidate such investments and/or shares of an ETF that invests in such investments. In addition, adverse market conditions may impair the liquidity of actively traded commodities investments. Certain types of commodities instruments (such as total return swaps and commodity-linked notes) are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the instrument will not perform or will be unable to perform in accordance with the terms of the instrument.

Risks Associated with Active and Quantitative Management.  The Fund is an actively managed portfolio and its success depends upon the ability of the sub-adviser to develop and effectively implement strategies to achieve the Fund’s investment objective.  Subjective decisions may cause the Fund to incur losses or to miss profit opportunities on which it may otherwise have capitalized.  The sub-adviser uses quantitative investment techniques and analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, for which there can be no assurance that the desired results will be achieved.

General Fund Investing Risks.  The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money by investing in the Fund.  All investments carry a certain amount of risk and there is no guarantee that the Fund will be able to achieve its investment objective.  Annual Fund Operating Expenses expressed as a percentage of the Fund’s average daily net assets may change as Fund assets increase and decrease, and the Annual Fund Operating Expenses may differ in the future.  Purchase and redemption activities by Fund shareholders may impact the management of the Fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective.  Investors in the Fund should have a long-term investment perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, entity or person.
Risk Lose Money [Text] rr_RiskLoseMoney

The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money by investing in the Fund.

Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text] rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, entity or person.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading

Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block] rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Performance history will be available after the Fund has been in operation for one calendar year.
Eaton Vance Richard Bernstein All Asset Strategy Fund | Class A
  
[RiskReturnAbstract] rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Trading Symbol dei_TradingSymbol EARAX
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of Offering Price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice 5.75%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (as a percentage) rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther none
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.90%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 0.25%
Other Expenses (estimated) rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.31%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses (estimated) rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.08%
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) rr_ExpensesOverAssets 1.54%
Expense Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.09%) [1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 1.45%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 714
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 1,025
Expense Example, No Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 714
Expense Example, No Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 1,025
Eaton Vance Richard Bernstein All Asset Strategy Fund | Class C
  
[RiskReturnAbstract] rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Trading Symbol dei_TradingSymbol ECRAX
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of Offering Price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (as a percentage) rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther 1.00%
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.90%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 1.00%
Other Expenses (estimated) rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.31%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses (estimated) rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.08%
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) rr_ExpensesOverAssets 2.29%
Expense Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.09%) [1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 2.20%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 323
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 707
Expense Example, No Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 223
Expense Example, No Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 707
Eaton Vance Richard Bernstein All Asset Strategy Fund | Class I
  
[RiskReturnAbstract] rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Trading Symbol dei_TradingSymbol EIRAX
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of Offering Price) rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (as a percentage) rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther none
Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets) rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.90%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other Expenses (estimated) rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.31%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses (estimated) rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.08%
Expenses (as a percentage of Assets) rr_ExpensesOverAssets 1.29%
Expense Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.09%) [1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 1.20%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 122
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 400
Expense Example, No Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 122
Expense Example, No Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 400
[1] The investment adviser, sub-adviser and administrator have agreed to reimburse the Fund's expenses to the extent that Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses exceed 1.45% for Class A shares, 2.20% for Class C shares and 1.20% for Class I shares. This expense reimbursement will continue through December 31, 2012. Any amendments or termination of this reimbursement would require written approval of the Board of Trustees. The expense reimbursement relates to ordinary operating expenses only and does not include expenses such as: brokerage commissions, interest expense, taxes or litigation expenses. Amounts reimbursed may be recouped by the investment adviser, sub-adviser and administrator during the Fund's current fiscal year to the extent actual expenses are less than the contractual expense cap during such year.