Document And Entity Information (USD $)	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Nov. 08, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011
Document and Entity Information [Abstract]
Entity Registrant Name	North Valley Bancorp
Document Type	10-Q
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		6,835,192
Entity Public Float			$ 66,371,000
Amendment Flag	true
Amendment Description	This Amendment No. 1 hereby amends our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Form 10-Q/A”) as of and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 which was originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 13, 2012 (the “Original Form 10-Q”). The consolidated financial statements are being restated to correct an accounting error as follows: 1. Management of the Company concluded that there was an error in the calculation of the Company's tax benefits recorded in the quarter ended September 30, 2012. Specifically, the tax benefits recognized in the third quarter ended September 30, 2012, resulting from the reversal of a state deferred tax asset valuation allowance of $4,277,000, did not include an offset of $1,347,000 for the increase in federal deferred tax liabilities associated with the reversal.
Entity Central Index Key	0000353191
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Filer Category	Non-accelerated Filer
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	No
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2012
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2012
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3