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Income Taxes - Income Tax - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Dec. 31, 2011
Income Taxes [Line Items]        
Valuation allowance on deferred tax asset 30,768,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance $ 33,757,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance $ 49,562,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance $ 36,419,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
Statutory Accounting Practices, Portion of Excess Retained Earnings Not Taxed 900,000,000us-gaap_StatutoryAccountingPracticesPortionOfExcessRetainedEarningsNotTaxed      
Unrecognized tax benefits, income tax penalties and interest accrued 300,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued 700,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued    
Assets offsetting unrecognized tax benefits 22,100,000alb_AssetsOffsettingUnrecognizedTaxBenefits 25,700,000alb_AssetsOffsettingUnrecognizedTaxBenefits    
Unrecognized tax benefits net of offsetting assets 2,900,000alb_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsNetOfOffsettingAssets 3,400,000alb_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsNetOfOffsettingAssets    
Deferred tax assets carryover, valuation allowance 30,768,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance 33,757,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance 49,562,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance 36,419,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
Liabilities related to uncertain tax position 25,340,000us-gaap_LiabilityForUncertainTaxPositionsNoncurrent [1] 29,834,000us-gaap_LiabilityForUncertainTaxPositionsNoncurrent [1]    
Unrecognized tax benefits 24,969,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 29,143,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 28,398,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits 29,789,000us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Maximum decrease in the liability related to uncertain tax positions 700,000us-gaap_SignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIsReasonablyPossibleAmountOfUnrecordedBenefit      
Domestic Country        
Income Taxes [Line Items]        
Domestic credit available to offset future payments of income taxes 35,800,000us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardDeferredTaxAsset
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember		      
Valuation allowance on deferred tax asset 2,900,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember		      
Net operating loss carryovers 27,700,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember		      
Deferred tax assets carryover, valuation allowance 2,900,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_DomesticCountryMember		      
Foreign Country        
Income Taxes [Line Items]        
Valuation allowance on deferred tax asset 2,500,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_ForeignCountryMember		      
Net operating loss carryovers 258,700,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_ForeignCountryMember		      
Operating loss carryover, valuation allowance 93,100,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwardsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_ForeignCountryMember		      
Deferred tax assets carryover, valuation allowance 2,500,000us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsValuationAllowance
/ us-gaap_IncomeTaxAuthorityAxis
= us-gaap_ForeignCountryMember		      
Minimum | Domestic Country        
Income Taxes [Line Items]        
Tax credit carryforward expiration year 2016      
Operating loss carryforwards, expiration date Jan. 01, 2020      
Maximum | Domestic Country        
Income Taxes [Line Items]        
Tax credit carryforward expiration year 2024      
Operating loss carryforwards, expiration date Dec. 31, 2027      
[1] See Note 19, “Income Taxes.”