Business Restructuring (Additional Information) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012		Sep. 30, 2011
Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]
Business restructuring	$ 0	$ 208	$ 0	$ 208	[1]	$ 0
Severance and other costs		160
Asset write-offs		53
Pension curtailments		5
Costs associated with restructuring actions for demolition, dismantling, relocation and training		7
Restructuring expenses incurred				2
Restructuring reserve	98			98
Payments for restructuring				63		15
Restructuring Program [Member]
Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]
Payments for restructuring				4		15
Other liabilities [Member]
Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]
Restructuring reserve	$ 3			$ 3

[1] The charge for business restructuring costs in the nine months ended September 30, 2012, includes charges of $65 million related to the Performance Coatings segment, $46 million related to the Industrial Coatings segment, $63 million related to the Architectural Coatings - EMEA segment, $32 million related to the Optical and Specialty Materials segment $1 million related to the Commodity Chemicals segment and $1 million related to Corporate. These costs are considered to be unusual and non-recurring and do not reduce the segment earnings used to evaluate the performance of the operating segments.