Earnings Per Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Net income attributable to Colgate-Palmolive Company
Basic EPS	$ 634	$ 570
Diluted EPS	$ 634	$ 570
Shares
Basic EPS (in shares)	875,400,000	884,700,000
Stock options and restricted stock units (in shares)	4,500,000	6,300,000
Diluted EPS (in shares)	879,900,000	891,000,000
Per Share
Basic EPS (in dollars per share)	$ 0.72	$ 0.64	[1]
Diluted EPS (in dollars per share)	$ 0.72	$ 0.64	[1]
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares)	16,287,263	9,182,150

[1] Prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation as a result of the adoption of Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2017-07, “Compensation-Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost.” For further information regarding the impact of the reclassification, see Note 1, Basis of Presentation, Note 3, Recent Accounting Pronouncements and Updated Accounting Policies and Note 13, Segment Information to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.