Fair Value Measurements - Financial Assets Liabilities Summary (Parenthetical) (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Billions	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]
Assets accounted at fair value or approximate fair value	$ 867	$ 835

Assets accounted at fair value or approximate fair value.

No definition available.

Name:	gs_AssetsAccountedAtFairValueOrApproximateFairValue
Namespace Prefix:	gs_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant