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Risk/Return:

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Risk/Return [Heading]

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TIAA-CREF Enhanced International Equity Index Fund

Objective [Heading]

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Investment objective

Objective, Primary [Text Block]

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The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return, mainly through capital appreciation, primarily from equity securities of foreign issuers.

Expense [Heading]

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Fees and expenses

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

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This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund:

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

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SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

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ANNUAL 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 Termination

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2016-02-29

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

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Portfolio turnover

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

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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. During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2014, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 71% of the average value of its portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover, Rate

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Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text]

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Expense information has been restated to reflect an amendment to the Fund’s investment management agreement effective March 1, 2015.

Expense Example [Heading]

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Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

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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 February 29, 2016, 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]

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Principal investment strategies

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

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Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of foreign issuers included in the Fund’s benchmark index, the MSCI EAFE^® Index, at the time of purchase, but not necessarily at index weightings. The Fund has a policy of maintaining investments of equity securities of foreign issuers in at least three countries other than the United States. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

The Fund follows an enhanced index management strategy. The Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. (“Advisors”), actively uses quantitative analysis to attempt to enhance the Fund’s performance relative to the MSCI EAFE^® Index while retaining a similar risk profile, instead of passively holding a representative basket of securities designed to match the index. The MSCI EAFE^® Index measures stock performance in certain countries outside North America.

Enhanced index strategies employ quantitative modeling techniques for stock selection, country allocation and portfolio construction. With enhanced indexing, the Fund may use several different investment techniques to seek to build a portfolio of stocks that is structured to resemble and share the risk characteristics of the Fund’s benchmark index, while also seeking to outperform the benchmark index. Enhanced indexing is designed so that the Fund diverges from its benchmark index more than a pure indexing strategy, with the goal of outperforming its benchmark index while effectively managing benchmark relative risks.

Under these quantitative modeling techniques, a number of variables related to individual stocks are evaluated to select a broadly diversified group of stocks that may have the potential to provide a higher total return than that of the benchmark index, the MSCI EAFE^® Index. The Fund uses a proprietary, quantitative stock scoring model to evaluate and score a broad universe of stocks in which the Fund invests.

Advisors will generally attempt to overweight securities (relative to the benchmark) that score high in the stock selection screening process and to either not hold or underweight securities that score low in the screening process. The Fund may also purchase and sell swaps and other equity derivatives to carry out the Fund’s investment strategies. The Fund’s strategy is based upon Advisors’ understanding of the interplay of market factors and does not assure successful investment. The markets or the process of selecting individual securities may be affected by factors not taken into account in Advisors’ analysis.

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Principal investment risks

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

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

· Market Risk—The risk that market prices of portfolio 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 an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time.

· 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.

· Enhanced Index Risk—As an enhanced index fund, the Fund may also underperform its benchmark index due to differences between the investments of the Fund and its benchmark index.

· Quantitative Analysis Risk—The risk that stocks selected using quantitative modeling and analysis could perform differently from the market as a whole.

· Derivatives Risk—The risks associated with investing in derivatives may be different and greater than the risks associated with directly investing in the underlying securities and other instruments. The Fund may use futures, options, single name or index credit default swaps, or forwards, and the Fund may also use more complex derivatives such as swaps that might present liquidity, credit and counterparty risk. When investing in derivatives, the Fund may lose more than the principal amount invested.

Risk Closing [Text Block]

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Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

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You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

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Past performance

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

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The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Institutional Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year since inception of the Institutional Class. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Institutional Class for a calendar quarter during the period covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Institutional Class over the one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods (where applicable) ended December 31, 2014, and how those returns compare to those of the Fund’s benchmark index.

The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The benchmark index listed below is unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in the benchmark index. The returns for the benchmark index reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa-cref.org.

Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]

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The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year.

Performance Availability Website Address [Text]

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www.tiaa-cref.org

Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]

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Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future.

Bar Chart [Heading]

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ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES (%)

Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]

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Best quarter: 25.11%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. Worst quarter: -20.99%, for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.

Highest Quarterly Return, Label

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Best quarter:

Highest Quarterly Return, Date

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Jun. 30, 2009

Highest Quarterly Return

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Lowest Quarterly Return, Label

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Worst quarter:

Lowest Quarterly Return, Date

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Sep. 30, 2008

Lowest Quarterly Return

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Performance Table Heading

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AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS For the Periods Ended December 31, 2014

Index No Deduction for Fees, Expenses, Taxes [Text]

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The returns for the benchmark index reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate

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After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes.

Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred

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The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

Performance Table Closing [Text Block]

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Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

MSCI EAFE® Index (reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)

Risk/Return:

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Since Inception

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^[1]

Institutional Class

Risk/Return:

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Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases (percentage of offering price)

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none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge

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none

Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and Other Distributions

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none

Redemption or Exchange Fee

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Maximum Account Fee

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none

Management Fees

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^[2]

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^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

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^[2]

Waivers and Expense Reimbursements

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^[2],[3]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

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^[2]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

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Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

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Annual Return 2008

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Annual Return 2009

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Annual Return 2010

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Annual Return 2011

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Annual Return 2012

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Annual Return 2013

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Annual Return 2014

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Since Inception

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Nov. 30, 2007

Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions

Risk/Return:

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rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

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Since Inception

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Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

Risk/Return:

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Since Inception

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[1]	Performance is calculated from the inception date of the Institutional Class.
[2]	Expense information has been restated to reflect an amendment to the Fund's investment management agreement effective March 1, 2015.
[3]	Under the Fund's expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund's investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc., has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 0.50% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least February 29, 2016, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.