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Risk/Return:rr_RiskReturnAbstract 
Document Typedei_DocumentType485BPOS
Document Period End Datedei_DocumentPeriodEndDateSep. 29, 2011
Registrant Namedei_EntityRegistrantNameTIAA-CREF FUNDS
Central Index Keydei_EntityCentralIndexKey0001084380
Amendment Flagdei_AmendmentFlagfalse
Document Creation Datedei_DocumentCreationDateSep. 29, 2011
Document Effective Datedei_DocumentEffectiveDateSep. 30, 2011
Prospectus Daterr_ProspectusDateOct. 01, 2011
Global Natural Resources
 
Risk/Return:rr_RiskReturnAbstract 
Risk/Return [Heading]rr_RiskReturnHeadingRISK/RETURN
Objective [Heading]rr_ObjectiveHeadingINVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
Objective, Primary [Text Block]rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return, mainly through capital appreciation, from investments related to the natural resources sector.

Expense [Heading]rr_ExpenseHeadingFEES AND EXPENSES
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:

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]rr_ShareholderFeesCaptionSHAREHOLDER FEES (deducted directly from gross amount of transaction)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]rr_OperatingExpensesCaptionANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Terminationrr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination2012-10-31
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeadingPORTFOLIO TURNOVER
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its 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. Because the Fund is newly operational, it does not have a portfolio turnover rate as of the date of this prospectus.

Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text]rr_OtherExpensesNewFundBasedOnEstimatesOther Expenses are estimates because the Fund is newly operational.
Expense Example [Heading]rr_ExpenseExampleHeadingExample
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of 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 your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place through October 31, 2012 but that there will be no waiver or expense reimbursement agreement in effect thereafter. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading]rr_StrategyHeadingPRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in securities of issuers that are primarily engaged in the ownership, development, exploration, production, distribution or processing of natural resources, as well as in securities of companies that are suppliers to firms producing natural resources, in instruments with economic characteristics similar to natural resources securities or in direct holdings of natural resources. The Fund will primarily invest in equity securities, but, from time to time, the Fund may also invest in debt securities of issuers engaged in or related to the natural resources sector. The Fund generally defines “natural resources” as energy, metals, agriculture and other commodities, as well as related products and services.


The Fund is considered to be “non-diversified,” which means it may invest in fewer issuers than a “diversified” fund. Due to the Fund’s substantial investment in issuers within the natural resources sector, the Fund’s investments are considered to be “concentrated” in this sector.


Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest over 40% of its assets in foreign issuers, including investments in issuers listed in at least three countries outside the United States. The investment selection of Advisors drives country and regional asset allocations for the Fund. However, Advisors regularly compares the Fund’s issuer, natural resource sub-sector and country exposure against its benchmark index, the MSCI All Country World Commodity Producers Sector Capped Index (the “Index”), to assess the Fund’s relative investment exposures. Advisors looks to invest the Fund’s assets globally in financial instruments of well-positioned companies in the natural resources sector, both in developed and emerging markets. In selecting the Fund’s investments, Advisors generally favors companies that are resource-rich, have growth potential and trade at attractive valuations, regardless of their geographical location. The Fund may also invest in companies that Advisors believes are well-positioned as suppliers to the natural resources sector. The Fund may also hold certain natural resources directly, such as precious metals or timberland, subject to regulatory illiquidity limits. The Fund may invest in issuers with various levels of market capitalization. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.


At times the Fund will not invest in securities of issuers that do not meet certain corporate governance criteria adopted by the Fund. Under this policy, the Fund currently has determined not to invest in certain companies with operations in Sudan.

Strategy Portfolio Concentration [Text]rr_StrategyPortfolioConcentrationThe Fund is considered to be "non-diversified," which means it may invest in fewer issuers than a "diversified" fund. Due to the Fund's substantial investment in issuers within the natural resources sector, the Fund's investments are considered to be "concentrated" in this sector.
Risk [Heading]rr_RiskHeadingPRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS
Risk Narrative [Text Block]rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund, or the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:


· Market Risk—The risk that market prices of investments held by the Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole.


· Issuer Risk (often called Financial Risk)—The risk that the issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of its financial instruments over short or extended periods of time.


· Industry/Sector Risk—The risk that focusing on investment in specific industries or sectors makes a fund more vulnerable to developments particularly affecting those industries or sectors than a more broadly diversified fund would be.


· Special Risks of Investing in Natural Resources—The value of the Fund’s investments in financial instruments of natural resources issuers and directly in natural resources may be affected by various factors, including increased market volatility, natural events, inflationary pressure and national and international politics, causing the Fund to perform poorly. In addition, direct investments in natural resources, such as holding precious metals, are generally more illiquid than securities holdings, which could result in difficulty in their disposal in a timely and favorable manner.


· Non-Diversification Risk—The Fund is considered to be “non-diversified,” which means that it can invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer than a “diversified” fund. Investing in a non-diversified fund involves greater risk than investing in a diversified fund because a loss in value of a particular security may have a greater effect on the Fund’s return since it may represent a larger portion of the Fund’s total portfolio assets.


· Active Management Risk—The risk that the strategy, investment selection or trading execution of Advisors could cause the Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.


· Foreign Investment Risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also be less liquid and more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers.


· Emerging Markets Risk—The risk of foreign investment often increases in countries with emerging markets. For example, these countries may have more unstable governments than developed countries, and their economies may be based on only a few industries. Because their financial markets may be very small, share prices of financial instruments in emerging market countries may be volatile and difficult to determine. Financial instruments of issuers in these countries may be less liquid than those of issuers in more developed countries. In addition, foreign investors such as the Fund are subject to a variety of special restrictions in many such countries.

Risk Closing [Text Block]rr_RiskClosingTextBlock

There can be no assurances that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see the non-summary portion of the prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above.

Risk Lose Money [Text]rr_RiskLoseMoneyYou could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatusThe Fund is considered to be "non-diversified," which means that it can invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer than a "diversified" fund. Investing in a non-diversified fund involves greater risk than investing in a diversified fund because a loss in value of a particular security may have a greater effect on the Fund's return since it may represent a larger portion of the Fund's total portfolio assets.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeadingPAST PERFORMANCE
Performance Narrative [Text Block]rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Performance information is not yet available for the Fund because the Fund is newly operational.

Performance One Year or Less [Text]rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLessPerformance information is not yet available for the Fund because the Fund is newly operational.
Global Natural Resources | RETAIL CLASS
 
Risk/Return:rr_RiskReturnAbstract 
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)rr_MaximumCumulativeSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Deferred Sales Chargerr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributionsrr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or Exchange Fee (on shares held less than 60 days)rr_ExchangeFeeOverRedemption2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)rr_MaximumAccountFee 15.00
Management Feesrr_ManagementFeesOverAssets0.65%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Feesrr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets0.25%
Other Expensesrr_OtherExpensesOverAssets0.32%[1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expensesrr_ExpensesOverAssets1.22%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursementrr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets(0.08%)[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursementrr_NetExpensesOverAssets1.14%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Yearrr_ExpenseExampleYear01116
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Yearsrr_ExpenseExampleYear03379
Global Natural Resources | RETIREMENT CLASS
 
Risk/Return:rr_RiskReturnAbstract 
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)rr_MaximumCumulativeSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Deferred Sales Chargerr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributionsrr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or Exchange Fee (on shares held less than 60 days)rr_ExchangeFeeOverRedemption2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)rr_MaximumAccountFee none
Management Feesrr_ManagementFeesOverAssets0.65%
Other Expensesrr_OtherExpensesOverAssets0.43%[1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expensesrr_ExpensesOverAssets1.08%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursementrr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets(0.08%)[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursementrr_NetExpensesOverAssets1.00%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Yearrr_ExpenseExampleYear01102
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Yearsrr_ExpenseExampleYear03336
Global Natural Resources | PREMIER CLASS
 
Risk/Return:rr_RiskReturnAbstract 
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)rr_MaximumCumulativeSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Deferred Sales Chargerr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributionsrr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or Exchange Fee (on shares held less than 60 days)rr_ExchangeFeeOverRedemption2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)rr_MaximumAccountFee none
Management Feesrr_ManagementFeesOverAssets0.65%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Feesrr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets0.15%
Other Expensesrr_OtherExpensesOverAssets0.18%[1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expensesrr_ExpensesOverAssets0.98%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursementrr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets(0.08%)[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursementrr_NetExpensesOverAssets0.90%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Yearrr_ExpenseExampleYear0192
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Yearsrr_ExpenseExampleYear03304
Global Natural Resources | INSTITUTIONAL CLASS
 
Risk/Return:rr_RiskReturnAbstract 
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)rr_MaximumCumulativeSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Deferred Sales Chargerr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice none
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributionsrr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther none
Redemption or Exchange Fee (on shares held less than 60 days)rr_ExchangeFeeOverRedemption2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)rr_MaximumAccountFee none
Management Feesrr_ManagementFeesOverAssets0.65%
Other Expensesrr_OtherExpensesOverAssets0.18%[1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expensesrr_ExpensesOverAssets0.83%
Fee Waiver or Reimbursementrr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets(0.08%)[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursementrr_NetExpensesOverAssets0.75%
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Yearrr_ExpenseExampleYear0177
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Yearsrr_ExpenseExampleYear03 257
[1]Other Expenses are estimates because the Fund is newly operational.
[2]Under the Fund's expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund's investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. ("Advisors"), has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 1.14% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares; (ii) 1.00% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (iii) 0.90% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.75% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least October 31, 2012, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.