Regulation and Capital Adequacy - Capital Ratios (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Jan. 01, 2016
Compliance with Regulatory Capital Requirements under Banking Regulations [Line Items]
Tier 1 leverage ratio	9.50%	9.40%
Standardized Capital Rules [Member]
Compliance with Regulatory Capital Requirements under Banking Regulations [Line Items]
Common Equity Tier 1	$ 71,837	$ 72,046	$ 71,363
Tier 1 capital	82,513	82,440	81,511
Allowance for losses on loans and lending commitments	791	722
Tier 2 capital	15,781	16,074	16,705
Total capital	98,294	98,514
Risk-weighted assets	$ 507,401	$ 496,676	524,107
CET1 ratio	14.20%	14.50%
Tier 1 capital ratio	16.30%	16.60%
Total capital ratio	19.40%	19.80%
Basel III Advanced Transitional [Member]
Compliance with Regulatory Capital Requirements under Banking Regulations [Line Items]
Common Equity Tier 1	$ 71,837	$ 72,046	71,363
Tier 1 capital	82,513	82,440	81,511
Standardized Tier 2 capital	15,781	16,074
Allowance for losses on loans and lending commitments	(791)	(722)
Tier 2 capital	14,990	15,352	16,103
Total capital	97,503	97,792
Risk-weighted assets	$ 558,276	$ 549,650	$ 577,651
CET1 ratio	12.90%	13.10%
Tier 1 capital ratio	14.80%	15.00%
Total capital ratio	17.50%	17.80%
GS Bank USA [Member]
Compliance with Regulatory Capital Requirements under Banking Regulations [Line Items]
Tier 1 leverage ratio	15.50%	14.40%
GS Bank USA [Member] | Standardized Capital Rules [Member]
Compliance with Regulatory Capital Requirements under Banking Regulations [Line Items]
Common Equity Tier 1	$ 24,791	$ 24,485
Tier 1 capital	24,791	24,485
Tier 2 capital	2,401	2,382
Total capital	27,192	26,867
Risk-weighted assets	$ 207,753	$ 204,232
CET1 ratio	11.90%	12.00%
Tier 1 capital ratio	11.90%	12.00%
Total capital ratio	13.10%	13.20%
GS Bank USA [Member] | Basel III Advanced Transitional [Member]
Compliance with Regulatory Capital Requirements under Banking Regulations [Line Items]
Common Equity Tier 1	$ 24,791	$ 24,485
Tier 1 capital	24,791	24,485
Standardized Tier 2 capital	2,401	2,382
Allowance for losses on loans and lending commitments	(401)	(382)
Tier 2 capital	2,000	2,000
Total capital	26,791	26,485
Risk-weighted assets	$ 136,820	$ 131,051
CET1 ratio	18.10%	18.70%
Tier 1 capital ratio	18.10%	18.70%
Total capital ratio	19.60%	20.20%